After an Opel Mokka was spotted in Malaysia last month, another Opel model has now been sighted on our roads. This time, it’s the Vivaro, which is a commercial van that’s also marketed as a Vauxhall in selected markets, and is related to the Citroen Jumpy, Peugeot Expert and Toyota ProAce.
All the mentioned models (except the Mokka) have a slightly different look to them, but they are all built on the EMP2 platform developed by Groupe PSA, which has since merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to form Stellantis.
As reported in November, Stellantis has already secured full ownership of Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) and its manufacturing plant in Gurun, Kedah, so could the Vivaro be another model that will be locally assembled (CKD) here?
In the past few months, we’ve seen a number of models from the Stellantis portfolio making the rounds here, all lightly camouflaged and wearing trade plates. These include the Citroen C4 and C3, the DS3 Crossback and DS9, as well as the latest Peugeot 508 and 2008. While some of these models could be launched here, others may have been brought in for evaluation purposes and could be built here for export markets.
Getting back to the Vivaro, this example was seen along Persiaran Jengka in Subang Jaya and sports a white paintjob and wheel covers for its steelies. The van also sports a crew cab body rather than being a full-on panel van, which doesn’t have rear side windows. The Vivaro is also offered with a longer body and there’s also a passenger-focused version called the Vivaro Life that comes with proper windows and a more comfort-oriented interior.
The Vivaro’s sister models mentioned at the start also have their own passenger-focused versions, namely the Citroen SpaceTourer, Toyota ProAce Verso and Peugeot Traveller, the last of which was previously sold in Malaysia when the Naza Group was at the helm of the Peugeot brand (through Nasim) – Bermaz Auto has since taken over the reigns of the French brand.
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Hope to see this vehicle on the market. As it is we don’t have enough choices for small panel vans.
welcome back opel to malaysia