As Volkswagen and Toyota quickly prepare their onslaught for the microcar segment, GM believes that there is little market for minicars and has decided not to build a competitor to the upcoming Volkswagen Up! and the Toyota IQ.

According to the president of GM Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, “These specialized urban vehicles have a limited market. I think the sweet spot is where we are with the [Chevrolet] Matiz.”

Froster believes that it would be expensive to build a new platform and new engine for a segment smaller than the Matiz

Volkswagen plans to launch a four-door version of the Up! concept it showed at various auto shows this year. Toyota, on the other hand, plans on introducing a production version of the Toyota IQ to the market in January 2009. The Japanese giant hopes to sell 80,000 units of the world”s smallest four-seater car in the first 12 months of its introduction.

The last minicar GM presented was the Opel Trixx (pictured above) at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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