http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/o...731-23bdf.html

High performance OPC - or Opel Performance Centre - vehicles are on the radar of Opel Australia as it looks to boost its upcoming launch lineup.

Opel Australia has its hands up for the high performance OPC - or Opel Performance Centre - models as the flagships of its soon-to-be-established range.

Speaking ahead of the September 1 on-sale date for the three-model Opel range, the brand's Australian managing director, Bill Mott, admitted he wants the OPC variants.

"We don't have the confirmation but my interest is keen," says Mott. "We haven't confirmed that but we're very interested in it and I think that's the way we'd go with a performance range."

Mott suggested the main potential blockages were engineering factors, but hinted it was likely to be just dotting i's and crossing t's.
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"Before I tell you we're going to get it, I want a piece of paper that says we're going to get it. I'd hate to confirm something and then find out we're unable to make it happen."

The earliest the OPC cars could go on sale would be 2013, with Mott suggesting he wants them "sooner than later, but I couldn't give you a date".

"We've got to go through a formal process ... and engineering [for export]."

Currently Opel offers three OPC models on the models the brand is planning to launch in Australia.

The Opel Corsa OPC makes 141kW from its 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, the Opel Astra OPC makes 206kW from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder and the Opel Insignia OPC develops 239kW from a 2.8-litre turbocharged V6.

"Whether we launch them all or not we'd still need to do some homework on," says Mott.

An Opel OPC car has previously been sold in Australia as the HSV VXR.

At the time it was seen as a significant first step - or re-entry - for HSV into the compact four-cylinder performance segment.

But the brand that has a reputation for high-performance V8s struggled for sales against more established hot-hatch competition.

Opel is also planning other models as part of its imminent arrival in Australia.

The Opel Mokka baby SUV is expected to arrive here in 2013 where it will compete with the new breed of compact, city focused off-road-style wagons.

Mott also said he would consider the next generation of the Opel Ampera plug-in hybrid car that is a twin of the upcoming Holden Volt.

Mott said that while the current Ampera and Volt are too similar to justify selling them alongside each other, the next all-new models of each are expected to be quite different, opening the door for such a vehicle.

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