In this week’s automotive news you need to know: Opel unwraps a brand new Astra you’ll never see here, Alfa Romeo will sell you a very fast (and equally fast-depreciating) Giulia, Xpeng plans to be the EV tech leader of the future and Hyundai’s Elantra N is a fast sedan competing in a segment that no longer exists.
Opel Astra – Hatching a plan…
Opel recently announced that its future product line-up would focus purely on the SUV market, but, as we know in business, it could all have been “smoke and mirrors” on the part of the Russelsheim-based brand while it quietly prepared to give the Astra its final (probably) outing. It’s not as if the German brand spent gazillions on the Astra’s development, anyway. Peugeot developed the new 308 on the EMP2 platform and the Opel’s essentially a clone. Still, the Astra nameplate has some juice left in it, if there’s enough market appetite for the German hatch, it might migrate further than the EU and UK.
Read more: All-new 2022 Opel Astra unveiled
Back home in SA, there’s still a deep love for Opel, which should not be ignored. If ever Stellantis wanted to capitalise on that, they best do it sooner rather than later before the likes of VW all but take over. It’s been plain sailing for Volkswagen over the past 2 decades, but the time for serious competition is now, so slap some stilts on that Astra and get it over here, Stellantis. The “Opel people” are waiting.
Alfa Romeo GTA – behind the slow-motion promotion shots and emotive music…
Alfa Romeo sure knows how to toy with petrolheads’ emotions. There’s always the promise of a model that will humble German performance sedans and enter the, um, pantheon of ultimate driver’s cars. Well, for what’s been presented so far, the GTA and its wilder GTAm brother make their Bavarian rival (the G80-generation M3) seem rather pedestrian… and gauche. The Milanese marque has a rich history that evokes great names such as Ascari, Fangio, Lauda and even Enzo Ferrari. BMW’s heritage is shorter and lacks mystique; it doesn’t have Alfa’s design flair either and sadly, it never will.
Read more: Hardcore Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA (2021) Specs & Price in SA
Look, Alfa Romeo was only ever going to produce a few Giulia GTAs, so its humble South African subsidiary was, frankly, lucky to have secured any stock whatsoever. Given the GTA’s stratospheric price of R4 million, the model’s local arrival will achieve little more than serving die-hard fans of the brand who happen to be rolling in cash… and are wholly unconcerned about resale values – I believe that with every fibre of my being. The current state of the Alfa Romeo brand in South Africa is a shame considering that the Milanese brand developed the internationally acclaimed GTV6 3.0 – which is a collector’s item today – right here in Mzansi in the ’80s. Who knows what Stellantis’ local subsidiary is planning for Alfa? I’ve got to admit though, Giulietta (on run-out), Giulia and Stelvio is a rather thin line-up.
Xpeng – leading a charge in a thunderstorm
Xpeng Motors… that name may not sound familiar, but the NYSE-listed Chinese EV start-up is making waves. With firm roots in North America and financial backing from E-commerce giants Alibaba, Xpeng is well-poised to profit from the electric revolution. Not only is the firm eyeing up the EV-hungry Norwegian market – it may ultimately rival giants Tesla and Volkswagen as a leader in the EV space.
Read more: Xpeng G3 is the Chinese crossover to worry VW
You probably won’t be surprised to read that the electric vehicle industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and to say that it’s a tumultuous segment, would be putting it mildly. Xpeng knows this all too well and that’s why it’s firmly invested in research and development (R & D) as a core driver of its business. It understands that every bit of the process, from R & D, to technological advancements, to automation in the manufacturing process, needs to be focused on and that’s why it will be a threat. They’re the tech disruptors within the EV space. Ignore them at your peril.
Hyundai Elantra N – What wins on a Sunday… sells on a Monday?
With the sedan market seemingly all but dead and buried, and the hatch market in hot pursuit (a sad pun there), Hyundai Kia continues to champion the cause of the 3-box, 4-door vehicle. I assume it’s because the Koreans want to maintain momentum in the US market where sedans still sell well. Hyundai has been pushing this development by entering the Elantra in touring-car racing – no, really!
Read more: 206 kW Hyundai Elantra N Revealed, Not for SA
Hyundai’s N Division still believes that motorsport has a part to play in the development of performance-oriented road cars. Huzzah! Technological advancements should trickle down into future N models, then, if they sell in sufficient numbers, Hyundai can scale production to make the N badge more attainable. Seeing as the Elantra has disappeared from the local market because Hyundai SA is focusing its efforts on crossovers and SUVs (even the Kona N is on the cards), we won’t get the Elantra N here. I can understand why, but man, as a compact performance sedans go, the Hyundai looks the business.
