All Midsize General Motors Vehicles to Be Developed by Opel

With Opel in the Driver's Seat Cars such as the Current Pontiac Grand Prix Would Never Happen

Is General Motors finally seeing the light? Automotive experts have long questioned why GM chooses to engineer its small

GM's Opel division has produced some wonderful vehicles over the years, and we may finally see some future versions in North America under domestic GM nameplates. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

and midsize front-drive cars in Detroit rather than look to its European operations for assistance.

After all, GM's Opel division has produced some wonderful vehicles over the years, far better than the majority of the American automaker's domestic products. When Cadillac needed a new midsize model it turned to Opel for its Catera, and despite its odd appearance the Cadillac that zigs helped to change perceptions about the brand, ushering in the current CTS.

Changes are afoot to incorporate a new generation of front-drive small and midsize global architectures, the

The Opel Astra is being re-branded as a Chevrolet in South America, showing that a single car global strategy is possible for a company like GM. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

Solstice's Kappa being most prominently featured in the news as of late. Other models, such as the compact Astra are being re-branded as Chevrolets in South America too, showing that a single car global strategy, similar to premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, is possible.

As reported in Detroit News earlier this week, Opel's chief executive said the German automaker would be in charge of developing all of GM's future midsized vehicles. This would mean that cars such as Pontiac's poorly executed Grand Prix would probably never see the light of day, allowing this GM division to directly compete with brands like Acura, Chrysler and Nissan that currently under-price and over-deliver with their respective TL, 300 and Maxima in comparison.