Auto News 5

It doesn't take much time driving in the U.K. to understand why small city cars are so popular here. Narrow roads lead to tiny parking spaces, gasoline costs the equivalent of $8 a gallon, and the amount of road tax you pay is directly linked to a car's carbon-dioxide emissions. No surprise, then, that subcompact hatchbacks are everywhere. Vauxhall, the General Motors brand that is paired with Opel, saw how much Europeans loved cute runarounds like the Fiat 500 and the Mini Cooper, and launched the Adam to grab a piece of the action.