PSA's Opel/Vauxhall has announced "a preview of the exciting future of the brand" with a new concept car called the Opel (or Vauxhall) GT X Experimental – a 4.06m, five-door, all-electric compact SUV "with coupe appeal" claimed to be "brimming with innovative ideas".
"With our PACE! plan, we have a very clear vision of how we want to create a successful future for Opel. Focus on a strong brand identity defined by our values – German, approachable, exciting – plays an integral role in our return to sustainable success. Our Brand Concept shows how these values will come to life in our products in the future. Our engineering and design teams have put this into effect brilliantly in the Opel GT X Experimental. It gives a clear idea of how we see the mobility of the future," said Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller.
Go deeper with GlobalData
In the Vauxhall version of the press release, managing director Stephen Norman said: "Vauxhall is defiantly not a prestige brand, and not a 'me-too' brand. But we make great cars, and people buy them because of their value, approachability, ingenuity and progressiveness. The [concept] picks up on these reasons for purchase, reinforces them, and creates a clear template for design elements in production cars of the future."
After paragraphs of such waffle, comes the detail. Opel/Vauxhall think SUVs will take 40% of group sales by 2021 so the concept is a compact model 4,063mm long on a 2,625mm wheelbase, 1,830mm wide and 1,528 mm high including antenna. It's on lightweight architecture, has a reduced footprint, drives on 17-inch wheels claimed to look much larger and, following the PACE! plan promise of offering an electrified version of each model by 2024, is fully electric with power delivered by a 50 kWh, compact next-generation lithium-ion battery with inductive charging.
The car, Opel said, does not pretend to offer full autonomous driving but does have Level 3 autonomous driving functions – meaning it can handle all aspects of driving but the driver must be able to respond to a request to intervene.
Opel said the concept reveals the new theme for the front and the rear fascia of future models for the first time. The 'Opel Compass' organises the design elements along two strong axes that intersect the blitz badge on Opels and the griffin on Vauxhalls.
A new faces called the 'Opel/Vauxhall Vizor' is a full, single module that frames all of the high-tech and brand elements such as the LED brand emblem that shows the car's operation state by lighting up in different colours, the LED matrix headlights, the wing-shaped daytime running lights as well as all cameras and sensors of the assistance systems and autonomous driving functions under darkly tinted Plexiglas. The module stretches across the front of the car right under the bonnet and is promised as a hallmark design element for all models later in the 2020s.
The cabin has a panoramic windscreen/roof and uninterrupted side window and the instrument panel is encased in a module that mimics the Vizor – the 'Pure Panel'. One wide, single screen welcomes drivers and shows that the multitude of screens, buttons and controls often seen in current-day production vehicles could become obsolete. Air vents have been hidden behind the screens, allowing clean surfaces. Two screens on the far left and right of the front panel display the side views captured by the small pop-out cameras. Elsewhere, the design of the steering wheel has been simplified while its centre module repeats the shape of the Vizor. Like counterparts on the wheels, the LED Opel blitz/Vauxhall griffin on its centre remains upright whatever the steering position.
Removable speakers nestled under seat headrests allow an out-of-car sound experience.
