News: Can GM's new plan save Opel?

In a week when rumours once again surfaced that Opel was up for sale to PSA Peugeot Citroen, the German firm's US masters at General Motors have come up with (another) new plan to turn around the loss-making car company.

Interestingly, GM Europe boss Steve Girsky admits that this is the first Opel turnaround programme "not to include hope as part of the package" and the 10-year plan centres on cutting costs (Opel needs to get its fixed costs down by about €500-million, and make around €1-billion of savings in its parts-and-platform sharing agreement with PSA) and to introduce 23 new models (along with a bevy of new, more efficient engines) by 2022. The plan, rather playfully, is called Drive! 2022. 

If everything works, Opel will hit break-even in a couple of years and move back into profit by around 2018. Some of the plan has already been implemented; the tie-up with Peugeot and Citroen is already well progressed, the decision to close the loss-making factory in Bochum has already been taken and several key new models, including the Astra saloon, Adam city car and Mokka compact SUV, have already been introduced.

Opel actually had quite a good year in 2012, finishing up as Europe's third best-selling brand and going a long way to winding down stocks of unsold models. Next up will be to start building non-Opel-badged models in Opel's German plants, to take up the slack in capacity. Expect to see Buicks for China (China is now a massive market for this classic American brand) and mechanically-identical Chevrolets for Europe built in Russelsheim and elsewhere. And, although the plan doesn't overtly admit it, expect too to see the next-generation of Citroen C5 and Peugeot 508 built on a common platform with the Opel Insignia in Germany.

News: Skoda already boasting of six new car launches this year

Crikey, we haven't even gotten in to 2013 proper yet and Skoda is already talking about launches in December...

The Czech car maker, the apple of the VW Group's eye and well on its way to meeting its target of selling 1.5-million cars a year, has already launched the new Rapid hatchback in Ireland, and we've seen the first pics and details of the much-anticipated new Octavia saloon and estate which arrives in March. But what else have the Czechs got up their sleeves?

Well, there's definitely an updated Superb on the way, which Skoda insiders tell us keeps the clever/useless (delete as applicable) TwinDoor boot system but which does away with the bulky, awkward styling of the current saloon model.

Beyond that, there will probably be launches for the new vRS versions of the new Octavia and likely a facelift for the hugely popular Yeti.

Or, are there bigger changes afoot? Has Skoda got an all-new Fabia ready to go? Or what about the replacement for the oddball Roomster? Any takers?

News: Suzuki's S-Cross Concept kicks off new model rush

The S-Cross concept (above) as shown at the Paris Motor Show will kick off a bit of a busy period for Suzuki, and at least one new model due every year over the next five years. OK, so maybe that's nothing compared to Audi's one-a-month launch schedule, but for conservative Suzuki, that's a positive rush.

The S-Cross is a forerunner of next summer's all new Suzuki crossover, which will kinda replace the existing SX4 hatchback (although the S-Cross is bigger, leaving room for a possible smaller, Swift-based crossover beneath...).

Suzuki plans to launch models which exceed the environmental performance ceiling in their segments. The production model of the S-Cross concept will be amongst the lowest CO2 emitting cars in the crossover C-segment.

Since launching the Jimny (originally the LJ series) in 1970, Suzuki has expanded its line-up of off-road vehicles to include models such as the Vitara and Grand Vitara; earning the company a reputation as the pioneer of compact sport utility vehicles. Meanwhile, Suzuki has gained incomparable know-how in the development of compact passenger cars. Since the latter half of the 1980s, the company has been refining its performance technologies in the field of motor sport. In 2006, Suzuki united its advanced technologies in the form of the SX4 sport crossover – a car that was well ahead of the herd in the crossover category in Europe and has driven its growth.

The S-Cross concept, in its specially created Crystal Green Metallic body colour, looks pretty groovy and also pretty close to being production-ready, although it's likely that the cool wraparound, pillarless windscreen won't make it through to showrooms. Sales will start in Ireland next summer.

In the meantime, Suzuki will be launching an updated version of the Splash hatchback and a new GLX+ Swift that will include Bluetooth, rear spoiler, cruise control and privacy glass.