40 Years of the Opel Corsa - A Success Story in Six Acts

2022 is an anniversary year for Opel: the company has been making innovations affordable for everyone for 160 years, and at the same time one of its biggest bestsellers is celebrating its 40th birthday. The Opel Corsa revolutionized the small car class with its debut in 1982, and today, in its sixth generation, it is more in demand than ever. Last year, the current Corsa was the most popular small car in Germany and the best-selling car ever in the UK. The battery-electric Opel Corsa-e won the "Golden Steering Wheel 2020," now already accounts for about a quarter of Corsa sales, and is successfully competing in motorsports as a zero-emission rally vehicle. But to fully understand the Corsa's popularity since its debut in 1982, it is first necessary to look at another successful model with the lightning bolt - the Opel Kadett. Initially a small car around 3.80 meters long, conceived and made for the mobilization of broad social strata, at a time when driving was still a real luxury. Over the decades, the demands of increasingly affluent customers grew. In the second half of the 20th century, the Kadett grew in size and performance and, version by version, moved away from the small car in the direction of the compact class. This left a gap below the classic entry-level model from Rüsselsheim.