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Our spies snap the next Vauxhall Agila: set for Frankfurt debut, on sale early '08

It might look like a padded-up Fiat Panda, but trust us, this is Vauxhall's next Agila supermini, snapped wearing a disguise heavy enough to throw most optimist car-snappers off the scent. Underneath all those covers lies a bold and stylish new look for one of Luton's most overlooked models. We'll see it for the first time when the new Agila's unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September. The new Agila will be on sale in the UK by this time next year. When it hits showrooms it will become Vauxhall's smallest quasi-MPV, combining a high monobox cabin profile with a low entry-level price. Alongside the Meriva and Corsa, it will give the brand a trio of small cars to rival those of supermini specialists Peugeot, Renault and Citroen.

Corsa looks, Modus space, Panda prices

Rumours that GM was rethinking its smallest Opel were unfounded. According to company insiders, this new Agila, like the old one, will be a shared project with Suzuki, a company in which GM owns a minority stake. Autocar had heard mutterings that, due to the relative unpopularity of the Agila, Opel would go it alone with the next model, turning it into a more direct rival for the Ford Ka, Fiat Panda and Toyota Aygo. Last year, however, Opel renewed the deal that brought us the original Wagon-R and Agila and, in order for the new Suzuki to satisfy Japanese tastes for boxy, utilitarian small cars, the Agila had to be a mini-MPV-like monobox. Agila mk.II will be built in Gliwice, Poland, the home of the current Agila and Wagon-R. It will be slightly larger than the current car, but not quite as large as the new Corsa; roughly the size of a Renault Modus, in fact. It'll be much cheaper than the Renault though; Vauxhall insiders suggest that prices on the new Agila will start at less than £7000, undercutting almost every junior people-mover in the field.Although it's difficult to distinguish it underneath all the cladding, the new car will look much more like the rest of Vauxhall's range than the current one. Look closely and you can just make out the car's Corsa-like oversized headlights and its Antara-inspired trapezoidal front grille. So confident are those that have seen pictures of the new car, in fact, that they describe it as the best-looking car in the class.Engines for the new Agila will be a mix of Suzuki petrols and an Opel diesel. There will be a choice of 90bhp 1.3-, 100bhp 1.5- and 120bhp 1.6-litre petrols, and GM's award-winning 1.3-litre CDTi turbodiesel, available in 75- and 90bhp tune.

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Car review

Price and performance apart, the Vauxhall Agila is an ideal city car, but can't be considered in isolation when rivals make a more convincing argument

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