18 September 2002: An Opel Speedster powered by a diesel engine seems to be a contradiction in terms, but that’s just what people attending the Paris Motor Show next week will see in a place of pride on the Opel stand.

The Eco-Speedster is a REAL car, with tested performance of a 155mph top speed, returning 113mpg. And it represents the first public showing of the new GM-Fiat small diesel engine, a common-rail unit of 1.3 litres.

The Eco-Speedster concept is based on the lightweight sports car of the same name, but has a new carbob-fibre body to give it even lower weight, and a smoothened closed-top style which provides an extraordinarily low drag coefficient of 0.20 Cd.

It’s not the first time that Opel has put an oil-burner in a sports car. On 1 June, 1972, at sister company Opel’s Dudenhofen proving ground, a modified Opel GT with a 95 hp 2.1-litre turbo-diesel power unit made the headlines by setting several world records for diesel engines while reaching a top speed of 123 mph.

The new 1.3-litre turbodiesel is the first of a number of state-of-art diesel engines which Opel will be launching over the next 15 months, the top end of which will have a power output of 177bhp.