Opel/Vauxhall and Fiat have signed a contract that will see Fiat supply vans, passenger variants and chassis cabs to Vauxhall and Opel from December 2011.

Sales of the new model are expected to begin in January 2012. Fiat will supply up to 6,000 vehicles in 2011 and the contract is expected to deliver at least 250,000 vehicles to Vauxhall and Opel before production of the current Doblo comes to an end. Vauxhall will also use the Fiat Doblo engines and transmissions.

Styling will differentiate the Combo from the Doblo and GM Europe’s design team, based in Germany, has been working with Fiat on the Combo design.

The Combo will be built alongside the Doblo at the Tofas plant in Turkey. Tofas is a joint venture between Fiat and Koc of Turkey and the plant also produces the Fiat Fiorino, Citroen Nemo and Peugeot Bipper.

Production of the current Combo will end in the third quarter of 2011. The model was launched in 2001 and is built at the GM plant at Zaragoza in Spain.

The company produced 29,904 Combos in 2009, down from 56,934 in 2008.