Vauxhall Adam arrives

The Vauxhall Adam – Vauxhall’s new city car – has been revealed and will go on sale in January 2013 with a range of small petrol engines.

It was clear when we revealed the Vauxhall Adam last week (well, its German sibling, the Opel Adam, anyway) on its first holiday in Spain to grab some pretty pictures that the official reveal would be close. And here it is.

We still think Adam is a daft name for a car (especially the Vauxhall – the name is Opel founders’) and the looks are generic city car – a mix of Fiat 500, MINI and a dose of DS3 – but it all looks rather good.

Whether appealing looks will be enough to compete with the retro chic the MINI and Fiat 500 can call on to bolster sales remains to be seen, but the starting point offers promise.

There are plenty of nods in the design to other Vauxhall’s, but the end result is cohesive. There’s a proper ‘face’ up front with a sculpted bonnet and big headlights, a decent size glass house, an appealing roof arch and Vauxhall’s ‘Blade’ sculpting on the doors.

Inside, Vauxhall are aiming for something between funky and chic, but just like every other fashionable city car the aim is to offer so many customisation options that no two Adams will end up the same.

The starting point for Adam customisation is the three trim levels - JAM (fashionable/colourful), GLAM (elegant/sophisticated) and SLAM (racy/sporty) – from where customers can add as much as they like from a wide palette of colours for interior and exterior – including two for the ‘floating’ roof – and lots of toys and tech. You can even opt for a Rolls Royce inspired ‘Starry Sky’ roof lining.

On the oily front, the engines on offer at launch will be a choice of three ecoFLEX four-pot petrol engines from the Corsa – in 1.2 and 1.4 litre guise – with stop-start and a five-sped manual ‘box. But in 2014 Vauxhall will introduce a new 3-pot petrol likely to offer improved economy and emissions.

There are almost unlimited visual combinations, with a wide variety of exterior colours – including two different roof colours – interior colours, equipment and materials. Customers can even choose their headlining, including an LED-lit starlight roof trim and premium toys like Advanced Park Assist and Blind Spot alert will be offered.

The Vauxhall Adam looks a good effort from GM and goes on sale in January 2013 following a public Debut at the Paris Motor Show in September. It may be a mix and match of ideas stolen from the Fiat 500, DS3 and maybe the Audi A1, but no one said you had to be original to succeed.

Perhaps we should call the Vauxhall Adam the Westlife of the car world?

By Cars UK