Remember how General Motors CEO Dan Akerson wants to tie Buick and Opel products together even more closely to maximize sales and profits for both brands? Now it looks like that could mean the Fiat 500-like Opel Adam could come to our shores as a Buick.
Quoting Opel Chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann, Automotive News reports from the Frankfurt show that the GM higher-ups are examining whether the stylish city car could head to America. Already, Buick and Opel have close product ties in cars like the Encore/Mokka small SUV, which helps spread engineering and design costs around.
As for the Adam, here's what Neumann said:
"We are looking at it," Neumann told reporters on the sidelines of the auto show here. "Nothing is decided. But it's an example of some of the Opel product being used elsewhere in the world."
GM CEO Dan Akerson said in June that he thought the Adam would be a good fit for Buick's U.S. lineup. He said that he wished GM had designed the Adam and the Opel Cascada mid-sized convertible to clear U.S. regulatory hurdles back around 2009, before GM's bankruptcy, so that the company could have brought those vehicles to the United States with minimal cost.
I've heard mixed reviews about the Opel Adam, but I think with some tweaking it could sell potentially well here and maybe even steal some Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper sales. But will people buy it with a Buick badge? I'm not so sure about that. That's why I suggested it selling it here under the Opel nameplate, but that seems pretty unlikely. Maybe the Buick brand could use something radical and different.
If I had to guess, I'd wager that the next-generation Adam is more likely to come here, and it will be engineered and designed especially for the American market.
Do you think people will go for a Buick Adam?