The hinted at since 2013 arrival Down Under of the Opel Zafira, that brand’s compact people mover, might be back on the cards with one spotted in a Melbourne carpark shared by HSV.
AT FEBRUARY’S ANNOUNCEMENT that Australian Mark Bernhard will steer GM Holden into the future as its incoming Chairman and Managing Director, a number of Opel sourced models were confirmed for introduction as part of a new model spree of 24 cars and 36 powertrain combinations by 2020.
Holden’s commitment is to source one-third of future products from Europe, (read Opel) and first off the boat will be the Cascada convertible, GTC Astra hatch and Insignia mid-size sedan that will all launch here in 2015.
Early next year will see the arrival of an all-new Barina Spark followed by a replacement for the ageing Captiva.
Holden stated its vehicles will continue to be tuned and tested for Australian conditions by retaining the famous Lang Lang Proving Ground in Victoria.
They committed to the Commodore nameplate that will live on with Holden’s next-generation large car and they declared a sports car will be part of its future product portfolio.
However, no mention has been made of the Holden Zafira, Opel’s clever, compact people mover. That said, Holden has been hinting as far back as 2013 that the Zafira would come Down Under with one being spied running around back in 2013.
So, it was a bit of a surprise to receive photos from an eagle-eyed Practical Motoring reader of a Victorian-registered Zafira seen in a southeastern suburbs business park, which just happens to be partially occupied by HSV.
Given there’s no people mover in the current Holden line up it makes sense for it being here for evaluation, but where it was seen begs more questions than answers. According to our reader, there were no visual HSV amendments, but…
We’ve reached out to HSV and will update this article with its response.
There was at least a hundred maybe more Zafiras imported by Opel and ready for sale when the company pulled out just four days before the launch of the model. These were later sold off by Holden. The 1AQ plate on this suggets a late 2013 rego which would fit with being one of that group. Holden have already scratched any chance of the Zafira being imported again.
Thanks Pete. We’ll update the article. – Isaac