A very carefully placed extra segment of cladding seems to be hiding one of the most controversial lements of the concept’s design: the rear-window ‘kink’. The front door’s handle and the general construction of the doors and rub strips seems to indicate the rear-opening rear doors of the concept are gone, however - a common modification from concept to production. The suicide door configuration makes for better display in a car show booth, but is both inconvenient and hard to get past the legal department in the real world.
The simple and attractive front fascia, minimalist outlines, and overall configuration remain very close to the concept’s design. Small detail differences include the addition of a tailpipe (hidden on the concept) and the removal of the rear roof spoiler and addition of an antenna in its place.
The treatment of the rear windows and rear hatch area seem to indicate both the angular upsweep before the C-pillar and the hourglass-shaped rear hatch will carry over into production. The tail lights, though heavily camouflaged, carry a hint of the outline of the concept’s large and stylistic units as well.
Rumors that GM could bring the Meriva to the U.S. under its Saturn badge have been circulating since word of the concept first worked its way onto the web. The move wouldn’t be unexpected, however, as GM tries to consolidate its global operations and reposition Saturn as a more up-market, sophisticated brand in the U.S. GM execs have previously stated that all Saturn and Opel vehicles will be essentially interchangeable by 2014, though there’s no guarantee that it will happen before then.
The Meriva is expected to arrive late in 2009, riding atop the GM Gamma platform.
2010 Opel Meriva spy shots
2008 Opel Meriva Concept
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