Opel Teases Karl

General Motors Co. will return to Europe's minicar market next summer with the Opel Karl, a five-door hatch made in South Korea.

With a starting price of €10,000, the Karl (called the Vauxhall Viva in the U.K.) will be about the same size as Opel's 3700-mm (12-foot) Adam minicar. Reuters cites an unnamed source who says the car will ride on the next-generation Chevrolet Spark platform.

Opel released a teaser photo of the Karl's profile on Thursday. The car is likely to be publicly introduced at the Geneva auto show next March.

The Karl will replace the Opel/Vauxhall Agila, a variant of the Suzuki Wagon R+ that Suzuki has supplied from Hungary. The new model aims at buyers who might have considered a Chevrolet-branded minicar. GM will phase out the Chevy brand in Europe by the end of 2015.

Sources tell Reuters the Karl will be powered by a naturally aspirated version of the turbocharged 1.0-liter 3-cylinder gasoline engine used in the Adam.

The car's name was inspired by Karl Opel, who helped his father Adam launch the company 152 years ago. Viva is a name Vauxhall last used in 1979.