Karl a welcome addition to Opel family

The Opel executive smiled benignly when one of the international press corps suggested to him that, with the addition of a new baby — the Karl — to its model line-up, the company was somewhat overwhelmed by superminis right now.

This is part of the plan for Opel going forward, the company representative insisted — and Opel is sticking with that plan, believing the small car market is going to deliver big gains.

But it was ever thus as Opel has always had a fairly busy nursery for its many babies. The thing is, though, that with the Karl it has re-taken charge of an area in which it was, until recently, happy to rebadge other people’s creations. Various Agilas were Suzuki products — and none the worst for that— but with the Karl, Opel has decided to do things itself.