Vauxhall reveals Adam details 05 | 11 | 2012
VAUXHALL HAS RELEASED full details of the new Adam it believes will steal sales from established A-sector leaders, Mini and Fiat 500 (watch our video of the new Vauxhall Adam).
The car, which is scheduled to enter Scottish Vauxhall dealers on March 8 but is available to order now, will start at £11,255 for the entry-level 67bhp 1.2-litre Adam Jam. The range-topping 97bhp 1.4Adam Slam will set you back £14,000.
Three petrol engines will be available from launch – a 67bhp, 1.2-litre, 1.4-litre 84bhp and 97bhp 1.4 — returning best figures of 56.5mpg and 118g/km. All are mated to a five-speed manual 'box.
These will be followed by an all-new small turbocharged, direct injection petrol engine with new-generation transmission.
Like Mini and Fiat, Vauxhall is offered a massive option list aimed at allowing its buyers to specifically customise their car: and also rack up the profit margin for Vauxhall.
No surprise then that Vauxhall says there more than a million different specification and trim combinations which it hopes will appeal to Adam's style-conscious buyers.
At its international launch in Lisbon today, Scotcars was one of the first few global journalists to get its hands on the new car.
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The funky three-door hatchback is 3.7-metres long and 1.72m wide (that makes it slightly wider than the Mini), and seats four people comfortably.
The Adam marks Vauxhall's first excursion into the highly-competitive segment which has grown 30% since 2000.
Its launch is also the third of four new models aimed at further boosting its position as market-leader in Scotland, where so far it's taken 15.04% of the market this year, selling 21,794 cars.
The Adam joins the Ampera and Mokka, which have already been launched, and will be followed soon by the stylish Cascada cabriolet.
The Adam is available with a choice of three trim levels, Jam, Glam and Slam (yes, you can see a rather annoying theme emerging here!).
Each will appeal to, according to Vauxhall, fashionable/colourful, elegant/sophisticated and racy/sporty buyers respectively. Already you can see the marketing department has been working far too hard on the 'creative' side.
And the Vauxhall bods were positively drooling at the realisation that the addition of option packs creates a virtually endless degree of customisation.
Ok: are you sitting comfortably? There's a choice of 12 body colours, 15 seat designs, 20 alloy wheel styles, three printed headliners and no fewer than 18 interior décor panels … to mention just a few.
Read our roadtest of the Vauxhall Mokka
Oh, and there are also four interior base colours – Black, Cocoa, Purple and White; 12 uniquely-named body colours, including ‘Purple Fiction’ and a very topical ‘James Blonde’; and three printed headliners ‘Sky’ (clouds), ‘Fly’ (autumn leaves) and ‘Go’ (Chequered Flag).
And just to round it off, there's three option packs: Two-tone ‘Black’ or ‘White Pack’, flamboyant ‘Twisted Pack’ and bold ‘Extreme Pack’.
"Enough already," I hear you cry from behind your sofa.
The Adam also introduces Vauxhall's the new on-board infotainment system, IntelliLink: it's a £275 option on all Adams. This clever system integrates the owner’s smartphone (Android and Apple iOS) with the car, making internet based applications available on the facia mounted touch screen.
A useful App which will be offered for IntelliLink is Stitcher, a global podcast internet radio that lets users listen to programs live or after they have been broadcast. Once Stitcher is downloaded onto the smartphone, Adam’s owner can access more than 10,000 podcasts on demand, radio shows and live stations around the world via the IntelliLink touch-screen.
Vauxhall Adam on-sale
Other features available on Adam include a new-generation Park Assist that automatically parks the car, a Side Blind Spot Alert and a power steering system including a ‘light touch’ CITY mode.
“Thanks to its striking design and class-leading technologies, Adam will attract young and young-at-heart customers from both genders,” Vauxhall marketing director Peter Hope said today.
“These customers have attitude and want their cars to reflect their personality. They are fashion conscious and place great value on individuality; they don’t just follow trends, they create them.”
Vauxhall believes the strength of Adam will capture sales from not only the existing market leaders, but also attract those who had not previously considered the brand. In fact Vauxhall predicts more than half of the predicted sales will come from new customers.
“Adam is yet another example of not just a new Vauxhall, but one that takes us into a new market sector,” Duncan Aldred, Vauxhall’s chairman and managing director told Scotcars.
“With Ampera and Mokka, that makes three such cars this year, and next year we’ll see the Cascada convertible, too.
"This is a new chapter in Vauxhall’s 110 year history, and we’re confident that it will introduce a fresh audience to the brand.”
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Jim McGill