Fiat to Build Combo for Opel

Back in 2009, Fiat's CEO Sergio Marchionne was aiming for a takeover of Opel. He didn't manage to accomplish this, and had to settle with the only major acquisition (sort of) last year, Chrysler. Now however Marchionne can safely say it has tied a knot with the German carmaker.

Fiat announced today it has agreed on the delivery of Doblo models to be sold as Opels. In other words, the cars we until now knew as Combo will, well, still be a Combo, but of Italian origin. Fiat will supply the vehicles based on the Doblo platform to the German manufacturer from its joint venture in Turkey, Tofas.

According to Fiat, the Tofas-built vehicles will be badged as Opel and Vauxhall and sold from 2012 onwards on the markets in Europe and several others outside of NAFTA. The models built by Fiat for Opel will continue to wear the Combo designation and will be available in several body variants, including Cargo Vans, Combi, Passenger Vehicles and chassis Cabs.

The deal call for an initial delivery of 6,000 units next year and will continue to be in effect until the Tofas joint venture had supplied some 250,000 units. The new model will be replacing the Opel Combo Light Commercial Vehicle.

There is no telling now how the vehicles will look and feel, but it would appear the Germans and the Italians have been at it for a while. Fiat says the vehicles have been developed by Fiat Group Automobiles’ Engineering and Design Group in Turin together with Opel / Vauxhall design team in Russelsheim.