Opel Insignia Wins European Car of the Year!

Ford's all-new globally hot-selling Fiesta nearly snatched top-spot for the 2009 European Car of the Year, but it came two

points short of victory handing the award to archrival General Motors for its impressive Opel (Vauxhall in Britain) Insignia.

The Insignia, which won't make as big a bang on a European market obsessed with small hatchbacks, managed 321 points over the Fiesta's 320, both impressive leads over the third place Volkswagen Golf with 223 points. This marks the first win for Opel in 22 years, despite four second place finishes during this span.

Ford shouldn't feel too badly however, being that it should enjoy great success with its new entry-level car that will sell in much higher numbers than the Insignia, and also because it experienced an almost equal and opposite win in 2007 when its S-Max beat Opel's Corsa by two just points.

So

why does all this matter to us? The Fiesta will be coming to North America in coming years and should do a number on competitive subcompacts due to its sharp styling and sporting character, while the Insignia is expected to underpin the next Saturn Aura.

If current trends at GM's import fighting division continue the Aura will be virtually unchanged in its transformation into Saturn duds except for the cosmic company's red ringed badge and maybe a few trim details, and its solid good looks are why the European judges picked it for first, or at least what pushed it over the top.

The jurors stated that it was because of “artistry with German precision”, actually, which means that its 280-horsepower turbocharged V6 might have had

something to do with its top score, or for that matter its precise German handling, full array of active and passive safety features and general comfort, highlighted by GM's new FlexRide suspension. Other technical tidbits that wowed jurors include Opel Eye, which reads road signals, and 9-mode Adaptive Forward Lighting, impressive in its own right and not normally available in the Insignia's segment.

What's most impressive about the win is that it was awarded to General Motors, a company that has done more to improve its lineup of new vehicles than almost any other automaker in the industry. That it came in a year when the General is struggling financially along with its Big 3 rivals, and other imported automakers, might make it doubly sweet. A testament to the reality that its cars are not the problem, but rather what the Detroit-based automaker can rely on to turn its fortunes around.