Vauxhall Agila review

Vauxhall is confident its stylish new generation Agila city car will attract more young female buyers to the brand

by Andrew Charman

Vauxhall dealers have been in training to get ready for the very different, style conscious and mainly female audience they are expected to attract to the new Agila city car.

The first generation Agila, a rebadged Suzuki Wagon R+, attracted customers for its practicality but little else.

While offering great interior space in a small package, the car was also very van-like in its looks and unrefined in its performance.

It was a stopgap model which was never popular, with dealers or buyers, and it customer base proved to be almost exclusively mature couples.

However with a combination of rising fuel prices and increasing political and environmental pressure over emissions, city cars are now assuming a more important role, and the second generation Agila, which enters showrooms next month, is very different to its predecessor.

Vauxhall management predicts that the combination of a more aerodynamic, sporty shell and a serious attention to detail within the car, adding a much more stylish look, will bring a new, younger, female audience to the Agila, while also retaining the traditional buyers of the car who will still choose it for its practicality.

According to Barry Scott, Vauxhall’s product manager for small cars, the monocab, or small MPV, segment is rising in popularity in the UK, having grown in the last five years from a 9.5 to 11 per cent market share.

It has also split into two sections, the small monocab and compact monocab, and the Agila will sit in the former, forming the entry level to a family also comprising the larger Meriva and Zafira models.

“Every fifth Vauxhall sold is on the monocab platform,” said Scott. “The former Agila served its purpose in the segment. It was functional and still has a loyal following. But the only similarity between it and the new one is the badge – they are completely different vehicles and the new car has the potential to attract new customers to the Vauxhall brand while still maintaining that loyal following.”

Shelley Perkins, Vauxhall’s small cars marketing manager, believes a group she has dubbed the “style conscious confident woman”, will be the Agila’s new target audience.

“They are likely to be in their mid-30s, modern women, self-assured who know what they want,” she said.

“These women tend to live, work and play in the city and need a car to help them get around that city – they cram a lot into their day. They are not fashion victims, they buy something because it looks good, not because of the price tag or the label that is attached to it. They will buy a car because it suits their needs and is an extension of their personality – they won’t buy something they don’t look or feel good in.”

Attracting such customers has seen great attention paid both to the look of the Agila on the outside and to the interior.

New detailing includes the use of dramatic two-tone trim schemes in bold colours and additions such as a pod-mounted rev counter, similar in style to those on the Smart, on all but entry-level versions of the car.

The new Agila is longer, wider but lower than its predecessor yet does retain one significant link with the old car – it is again identical to a Suzuki, in this case the Japanese brand’s new Splash, which went on sale a few weeks ago.

The two cars have in fact been developed alongside each other in a joint programme between the two manufacturers, with Suzuki supplying both petrol engines.

The Splash could in fact prove to be one of the Agila’s biggest competitors.

While Vauxhall is relying on its badge and dealer numbers to prevent buyers being diverted to the identical Japanese model, canny buyers will notice some price discrepancies.

With the Electronic Stability Programme a standard feature on the Splash, it is a costly £400 option on the Agila, making the Vauxhall the more expensive of the two in like-for-like terms.