Meriva, Idea are opposites.(News)(General Motors Europe's Opel Meriva and Fiat Auto S.p.A.'s Fiat Idea)(Brief Article)

Automotive News Europe,  April, 2003  by Ciferri, Luca

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Byline: Luca Ciferri

Three years after they entered their strategic alliance, General Motors and Fiat Auto are launching two competing products that share no parts.

The Opel Meriva now on sale and the Fiat Idea, which will follow in November, are likely to boost the size of the market segment for small minivans about 4 meters in length. Opel expects the segment to reach 500,000 units by 2005.

The only available MPVs of comparable size - the Fiat Multipla, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Matrix and Mitsubishi Space Star - sold a combined 127,791 units last year. That was up 29 percent ...

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