Opel Zafira Tourer review (09/01/2013)

I WRITE this piece on a day in which the influential German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting that Opel will reduce overall car production by 10% in the coming year. This news comes after a year in which the automotive giant had already announced the closure of several manufacturing plants across Europe and introduced rationalisation on a scale previous unheard of.

Opel is not alone. The European automotive industry really hit the buffers in 2012, but its moves come at a time when it appeared to be making something of a revival, with a new Astra coming on stream and an established range comprising of such worthy vehicles as Corsa, Meriva, Insignia and Zafira all having been recently revamped. On top of that the Adam city car is on the starting blocks as well.

It would appear that Opel is now paying the price for a period of relative stagnancy in product development at the sort of pace which has seen rivals such as Volkswagen grow its market share at an unprecedented rate.