There is a long preamble to this story that is coming up, but firstly reports are that the future Opel Corsa could be built in Korea, along with a new Opel citycar model being developed. According to the reports, there will be a new “premium hatch” and a budget citycar which will join the Opel Corsa in the small car line-up for the brand.

Despite being cars destined for the European market, the Corsa design and engineering will take place in Korea, along with the other two vehicles. The premium hatch, intended as a Mini competitor, will possibly have manufacturing trusted to Europe though, in what we see as a move indicating doubts on the build quality coming from Asia.

While nothing has been signed off as yet, General Motors has already tried this Asian-built Corsa experiment on another market - Australia. The model there is called the Holden Barina, and it was a stalwart on the Australian market for many years, especially as it gave local customers access to good, European-made cars, re-badged with an Australian brand. That was until recently when General Motors decided it could re-badge Daewoos rather than export the European models. More after the jump.

With a low price, the Holden Barina hasn’t sold badly all the same, but many Australian owners and Holden fans have lamented the disappearance of the European Corsa. We can read comments from readers on various sites, along the lines of:

This is just another Daewoo. lame. What happened to quality Opels? Has anyone seen the new Opel Corsa? Way better than this

That particular comment referred to the 2010 Holden Barina on its way last year, and is similar to: “The sooner Holden stops selling the last of the ‘old’ Daewoos the better.” Not that that particular reader probably got the improvement they were expecting.

Other similar comments from this year, referring specifically to the possibility of a Holden Barina Cruze minicar arriving, are:

Looks ridiculous and sure to have sub standard build quality as was the case with Daewoos of the past.
When will Holden stop importing cheap imports of Daewoos and rebadge them as Holdens? Start importing quality European cars as was the case of Barinas of the past….

More on competitors:

The Chinese brands are probably hoping the new Barina continues with the build quality of current GM Daewoos to make it easier for them. Throwing airbags and electronics at it does not make up for the fact that they are under-engineered by Euro standards.

And on brand image we get not only that Holden is “killing their brand” with the Asian replacement for the Barina, but that:

By European cars we mean the well built Opels that Holden used to import. Do you remember the Astra, Vectra and older Barinas? They’re all Opels and high quality cars. Unfortunately Holden decided to get a better profit margin by selling us Daewoos, and they wonder why no one buys the disgraceful Epica, Viva?? And Barinas don’t sell like they used to? Daewoo is why. My girlfriend bought a second hand 2006 Astra over similar age Focus or Corolla. And the ‘thump’ from closing the door is enough reason to choose it.

Holden has still been selling Barinas off the back of a previous good reputation and slightly lower prices. But these kinds of comments should be a lesson to General Motors that whoever is used to a European-built Opel Corsa is unlikely to swap it happily for a Korean one. Especially if they actually live on the same continent where the Corsa is made.

Comments and reporting from: Carsguide.com.au, Drive and Autocar.co.uk.

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