The rear-hinged rear doors of the General Motors Europe Meriva concept unveiled at Geneva this week will make production.
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“One thing which will definitely be carried over from the concept to the production car will be the side doors which open from the B pillar,” said Sara Nicholson, GM’s European marketing manager for small cars.
The configuration means the rear doors open backwards – so-called ‘suicide’ doors – in the same way that doors on a Rolls-Royce open.
“If it’s good enough for Rolls-Royce, it’s good enough for us,” joked Nicholson, adding that there are very good reasons for this sort of configuration.
“The big benefit is getting kids in and out and getting them into their child seats. These doors are much better and more flexible than sliding doors which are also heavier and more complicated.
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By GlobalData“We’re showing the concept early because we want to get people thinking about them. The doors open to 90 degrees so it’s much easier to get in and out and they also open independently of each other. You don’t have to open the front door to be able to open the rear door and we’ve kept the B-pillar for added rigidity and safety.”
The layout also gives designers more flexibility because the doors don’t need a flat surface to open over, unlike sliding doors which need straight rails.
The new Meriva will be bigger than the current model and the dimensions of the concept car are believed to be fairly close to the production version.
“Our production cars tend to be very similar to the concepts,” said Nicholson adding that GME was making flexibility a watchword for all product development.
“When we introduced Flex-7 seating on the Zafira people didn’t know they wanted it but once they have lived with it, they don’t want to be without it.”
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