Small hatch becomes second Opel to position below a French donor.

THE first Opel designed under Peugeot’s ownership has arrived for sale here – and becomes the second with pricing that undercuts the French product it bases off.

 The Opel Corsa, a small hatchback that in respect to its platform, oily and electrical bits twins with the Peugeot 208, will sit alongside the Mokka, which kicks off Opel’s sales push when it goes on sale next week.

The Corsa provisions as a $36,990 base car with a 1.2-litre engine called the Corsa SRi and a fully electric model, Corsa-e SRi, at $59,990.

Those stickers undercut the Peugeot equivalents with identical drivetrains, the 208 and e-208, by $3000 and $5000 respectively. The Peugeot electric model went up in price by $1000 last month.

That’s much the same pricing advantage the Mokka crossover has over the Peugeot it derives from, the 2008, with the same drivetrains as the Corsa/208.

The Mokka Edition and the Mokka SRi, are set to sell for $38,990 and $44,990 – which is $3000 below the 2008 Allure and GT they most directly correlate against.

The Mokka-e, with a fully electric 100kW/260Nm single motor powertrain shared with the e-2008, e-208 and Corsa-e, is $69,990, $4000 cheaper than the Peugeot e-2008.

There’s more to consider. The 1.2 makes the same power and torque in the Corsa SRi and base 208, but in Opel tune it achieves a lower CO2 count, enough for the Corsa and Mokka to pull a Clean Car rebate that the Peugeot versions do not get. With the Corsa it’s a $2438 saving while with Mokka it’s $1923.

Opel’s distributor says the Corsa 1.2 will achieve 5.2 litres per 100km, and emit 120g/km of CO2.

The fully electric models behind either badge attract the maximum Clean Car rebate, of $8625. With this applied, the Corsa-e falls to $51,365 and the Peugeot to $56,365. Opel cites the Corsa-e as being capable of achieving a range of 383km per charge.

Cross-shopping the respective lines will require a close look at how each kits. Corsa’s full specification has yet to shared, but the brand says the base car comes with LED matrix headlights, painted black exterior elements, a seven-inch digital instrument cluster and infotainment screen, 17-inch wheels, active emergency braking (AEB), and lane keep assist; all also on the equivalent 208.

The ‘e’ models’ also appear to mirror in how they kit up. Corsa-e has semi-autonomous lane positioning assist, adaptive cruise control, AEB with added night function and pedestrian detection and a heated leather steering. It gets an eight-year/160,000km battery warranty.

The Corsa is a car with an interesting background, in that when PSA, Peugeot’s parent (also owner of Citroen and DS), bought Opel in 2017, previous owner General Motors was good to go with a new-gen Corsa.

However, that car never saw production. Instead, Peugeot determined the small hatch had better opportunity basing off its own small car, so started again. It had its own Corsa out on sale two and a half years later. 

Since then, PSA has been subsumed into the Stellantis conglomerate, also involving Italian and American brands.