Vauxhall Mokka revealed

Vauxhall Mokka

With the arrival of the Buick Encore, the Vauxhall Mokka (and Opel Mokka) have also been revealed ahead of their Geneva debut.

We must confess, we’d expected the Vauxhall Mokka to be the Vauxhall Mocha. But it looks like GM in Europe have decided to go with the German spelling, so the Corsa SUV will arrive in the UK as the Vauxhall Mokka. So now we know.

With the tease for the US Buick Encore, and now its reveal at the Detroit Auto Show, it would have been pointless for Vauxhall to keep their new B-Segment compact SUV hidden any longer, so we get treated to three photos of the Mokka – but no interiors.

With the rise and rise of ever smaller SUVs, the Mokka is a sensible route for Vauxhall to go to take on cars like the new Ford EcoSport and the Nissan Juke. Based on the Gamma II Platform, which underpins the new Buick Encore and will arrive as the underpinnings for the next Corsa, the Mokka is compact – at 4200mm long with a 2555mm wheelbase – but, Vauxhall say, will seat five.

Despite being as much a lifestyle choice as anything else, Vauxhall will offer the Mokka with 4WD as well as FWD, with torque being shifted to the back wheels when the going gets sticky on the 4WD versions. Engines will be a pair of petrols, a 117b hp 1.6 litre and a 1.4 litre turbo with 142bhp, and a single diesel – a 1.7 litre CDTi with 132bhp and 221lb/ft of torque.

The Mokka may be a small SUV, but it looks set to get a big SUV spec. Apart from the 4WD, Vauxhall will be offering front and rear cameras, 18″ alloys on most models, their FlexiCycle ‘drawer’ for carrying bikes, Hill Start, Hill Descent, Adaptive lighting, Lane Departure and Forward Collison Alert.

The new Vauxhall Mokka will debut at Geneva in March and go on sale in the UK by the end of 2012.