Opel surprises with big car concept

08 September 2003: In a surprise pre-show reveal in Frankfurt this evening, Opel rolled out a concept big car that hinted what a replacement for the Omega and its predecessors Kapitan, Admiral and Senator might look like.

The Insignia has much of current GM thinking about and under its Bertone-designed skin, including a 344 hp V8 aluminium engine from the Chevrolet Corvette and a front end that is not a million miles from a Cadillac of current vintage. The dominant radiator grille is milled from solid aluminum and flanked by large air intakes.

The rear-drive powertrain has the capacity to push the Insignia from 0-100 km/h in less than six seconds.

The car has strong coupe-like lines and an intriguing doors system which has the front ones opening in a normal way, and then the rear 'body side' slides back using a pantographic hinge for easy rear entry and egress.

The exterior also has other design features including LED lighting systems.

Inside, the elements of Opel's 'flex' systems are strongly to the fore in the leather-and-ebony environment, with the Insignia being easily transformed from a 4-seater coupe to a 5-seater or a 2-seater with wagon-like luggage capacity of up to 970 litres.

As an indicator of the kind of customer that Opel would target with such a car, the designers have integrated a DVD player with folding screen, a cool-box large enough for two bottles of champagne and a humidor for storing fine cigars.

The lighting system uses no fewer than 405 light emitting diodes in the headlamps, rear lights, fog lights, brake lights, instruments and the car’s interior. They last for practically the car’s life-time and take up very little space, so headlamps and other lights can be made smaller and there is no need to provide for bulb replacement. The compact LEDs become quite hot though, so that efficient cooling is one of the main tasks for the developers of future lighting systems.

As a representative of Opel's 'vision for the future', company MD and VP of GM Europe Carl Peter Forster said the Insignia 'probably' indicated what a new top-of-the range Opel might be, though he said a 'close to production concept' was 'not just yet' on the stocks.

Opel's executive director of design Martin Smith said the car embodied everything that is important for the Opel brand: voluptuous styling, practical features. "It's a great step forward towards out goal of achieving design leadership in Europe," he concluded.

Bob Lutz, vice chairman of product development at GM said that designing 'emotionally compelling' vehicles is going to be one of the most important ways the world will identify GM vehicles in the coming years, whether they are Opels, Saabs, Daewoos, Cadillacs or Buicks.

©2003 irishcar.com