With so many significant new cars and exciting new concept cars rearing their heads at the
2006 Paris Motor Show it was a little surprising to receive a press release from Vauxhall telling us about its new Corsavan concept.
The word 'concept' should be taken with a grain of salt though, as this new commercial vehicle looks ready to go. At you glance you would not notice that this Corsa has indeed got solid panels in place of the regular three-door's rear windows; Vauxhall's designers have painted them black so they don't look too different to heavily-tinted glass. The Corsavan concept also features sharp 17-inch wheels and a VXR styling kit, along with red-painted front brake callipers.
So what, we wonder does this concept mean to us? Well, first of all, the concept is fitted with a 1.3-litre CDTi engine and six-speed gearbox, which indicates to us that it will indeed go head-to-head with
Ford's Fiesta SportVan. Unfortunately, the appearance of this concept also probably means that Vauxhall will not display the eagerly anticipated Corsa VXR (OPC in other European markets) until perhaps the
2007 Geneva Motor Show.
Shane O' Donoghue - 22 Sep 2006