Shark jump scare

• Published date: 20 January 2023
• Publication title: Horowhenua Chronicle

No, the first thing we wanted to know was the location of the shark

Now, while a few of you will be quietly smiling and nodding in agreement, there’s a pretty good chance that most of you will be wondering what we’re on about and need a friendly lesson on the legend of the Opel shark.

The shark first appeared in the Corsa D back in 2006.

The official Opel story is that interior designer Dietmar Finger was designing the reinforcing ribs on the side of the glovebox door. One day at home he was casually drawing various shapes when his young son walked up to him and said, “Why don’t you just draw a shark?”

So, Finger did just that. He showed his boss who immediately loved it and the shark in the glove box went into production.

The unofficial story is that a few designers had a bet to see if they could sneak a shark in somewhere, which is less cute and wholesome, but either way a...