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Archetypal roadster architecture with front-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive High-tech turbo direct injection and twin A-arms Roadster fun and performance at affordable price: 264 hp for 30,675 euros
Klassische Proportionen: flache Silhouette, lange Haube, kurze Überhänge Archetypische Roadster-Architektur mit Frontmotor und Heckantrieb Technisch ambitioniert mit Turbo-Direkteinspritzer und doppelten Dreieckslenkern Roadsterspaß und -leistung zum erschwinglichen Preis: 264 PS für 30.675 Euro |
Opel GT: Opel Goes RoadsterRüsselsheim. The modern definition of an athletic two-seater finds its form in the new Opel GT. As a classic roadster, it has a powerful front-mounted engine, rear-wheel drive, a cockpit with sporty instruments and a tailor-made fabric roof.
Crisp, dynamic look with strong face
High-tech turbo engine with direct injection and variable camshaft phasing
Chassis with classic sporty configuration
Stiff vehicle structure with center tunnel and side members
The first Opel GTs will be on the road in March 2007 and dealerships have been accepting orders since summer 2006. Extensive standard equipment Extensive standard equipment in the Opel GT includes: • 18-inch alloy wheels with 245/45 R 18 tires • Anti-lock Braking System ABS • Electronic Stability Program ESP (can be switched off) • Traction Control TC (can be switched off) • Two-stage airbags for driver and passenger • Occupant detection for passenger seat (with cockpit display) • Three-point safety belts with pretensioners and belt-force limiters • CD-Radio (six loudspeakers, steering wheel remote controls, MP3 player connection) • Power exterior mirrors • Power windows • Power height-adjustable driver’s seat • Cruise control • Air conditioning • Leather steering wheel and gearshift knob • Manual soft top with heated rear glass window • Fog lamps • Remote control central locking, including remote trunk-lid release New Opel GT: Technical Data Overview
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With a wide stance, sleek silhouette, long, front-hinged hood
and short overhangs, the proportions are typical of this class. The Opel
GT also brings new charm to this genre with its own unmistakable personality
thanks to its exciting shape, which contrasts sharp edges with curved surfaces
to create a dynamic look, and its configuration, which enables a refined
driving experience, even on long journeys. The GT’s pricing is also
attractive. For 30,675 euros (recommended retail price in Germany incl. VAT),
customers get no less than 264 hp from the high-tech turbo engine with gasoline
direct injection. Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h takes less than six
seconds. The new two-seater carries its legendary name because it continues
the tradition of the first Opel GT (1968 – 1973) and, like the original,
competes in one of the most exciting vehicle classes. The new Opel GT also
showcases the brand’s passion for dynamic cars, and the conviction that
“Opel was never as young as today”. This is underlined by niche
models with a high fun factor, such as the Astra GTC with panorama windshield,
the Tigra TwinTop and Astra TwinTop cabrio-coupés, as well as the
high-performance OPC family. They enrich the model portfolio and emotionalize
the brand. The development of the Opel GT is a prime example of transcontinental
collaboration within GM. It stems from the decision to expand the concern’s
portfolio with a compact, rear-wheel drive, sporty vehicle architecture that
can be implemented globally. The first step towards realizing this idea was
the Solstice concept car in 2002, followed a year later by the Vauxhall VX
Lightning concept, which was conceived at the GM Advanced Design Studio in
Coventry, England. Strongly inspired by the VX, the Opel GT has been adapted
to the current Opel design language at the GM Design Studio in Detroit and
the GM Europe Design Studios in Rüsselsheim under the direction of Bryan
Nesbitt. The Opel roadster will be built at the Wilmington/Delaware plant
in the USA, where its highly successful American GM sister models, the Pontiac
Solstice and the Saturn Sky, are also produced. The new GT’s story is
reminiscent of that of its classic predecessor. In 1968, the original Opel
GT set an automotive manufacturing precedent in Europe when it became the
first car to go into production after being debuted to the public as a concept
study. The legendary American sports car, the Corvette, made the same start
in 1953 in the USA. The new Opel GT shares some engineering characteristics
with the current Corvette, such as part of the architecture.
Sharp lines coupled with taut surfaces give the new Opel GT
a crisp, dynamic look. Its strong face is dominated by the fender’s
accentuated sweep, the bold chrome crossbar with integrated Opel logo, the
elongated hood with brand-typical center crease, chrome-bordered vents and
bold 3-D headlamps in clear glass look drawn deep into the side panels. The
GT’s especially sporty characteristics include the long air vents in
the hood, the grooving in the front fenders with their dynamic, Opel-typical
horizontal contours - like on the Antara -, the double-pipe exhaust system
and the twin air scoops behind the head restraints, which are reminiscent
of designs from roadster and motor sport history. 18-inch aluminum wheels
in new five-spoke design fill out the wheelarches, and emphasize the roadster
character, as does the fabric roof, which completely disappears beneath a
cover for open-top driving fun. Chrome-ringed instruments in the cockpit
clearly display all important information, while black piano lacquer and
chrome finishes accentuate the high-tech nuance of the surface structures.
These all combine with optional leather seats with visible stitching to highlight
the sporty ambience. The short gear stick adds significantly to the driving
fun: directly connected straight to the roadster’s five-speed transmission,
its short gear travel enables quick gear shifts from the roadster-typical
seating position.
The new Opel GT does not just look quick, it is quick! Its
longitudinally front-installed 264 hp engine with turbocharging and gasoline
direct injection accelerates the roadster to 100 km/h from a standing start
in just 5.7 seconds, and up to a top speed of around 230 km/h. “When
it comes to high-performance roadsters, there is no better balance between
price, driving enjoyment and fun,” says Alain Visser, Executive Director
Sales and Marketing, Opel. There’s no question about it: no other Opel
has ever produced 132 hp output per liter. The new Opel GT’s engine
not only complements the car’s dynamic look perfectly, it also far
outperforms today’s other roadsters and most two-seat sports cars. High-tech
features such as gasoline direct injection, twin-scroll turbocharger with
intercooler, double camshaft phasing and twin counter-rotating balance shafts
provide the basis for the 1998 cm3, four-cylinder engine’s impressive
performance data. Maximum output of 194 kW/264 hp at 5300 rpm and high torque
plateau of 353 Nm between 2500 and 5000 rpm ensure plenty of power in all
situations. The GT requires an average of 9.2 liters of super unleaded gasoline
per 100 kilometers. Jointly developed by GM Powertrain engineers on both
sides of the Atlantic, the all-aluminum ECOTEC unit is based on the 2.2-liter
direct injection unit available in the Vectra model range since 2004, and
on the 2.0-liter turbo induction unit, which debuted in the Vectra GTS in
spring 2003.
For the Opel GT, engineers designed a classic, sporty configuration
based on a rigid chassis, wide track (front/rear: 1543/1561 mm) and long
wheelbase of 2415 mm: all four wheels are suspended from twin A-arms made
from forged aluminum, the center of gravity is low, and the weight distribution
of 51:49 percent (front/rear) is well balanced. A manual five-speed transmission
with sporty, short gear travel and limited slip differential provide propulsion
power. A torque beam between the transmission and rear axle suppresses reactions
to acceleration/deceleration effects. All wheels are fitted with large disk
brakes, while ABS and ESP (which, like Traction Control, can be switched
off) monitor safety.
The typical roadster vehicle architecture was designed from
the beginning to meet the special demands of an open-top, two-seat sports
car without compromise. The vehicle structure, which consists of hydroformed
side members and a supporting center tunnel made from drawn sheet steel,
provides a solid basis for the car’s precise handling and passive safety.
The hydroforming forging technique, in which components are manufactured
from steel with the help of high water pressure, is already employed in
automobile construction for chassis components in the Opel Vectra and Astra.
Only the legendary American Corvette sports car is also based on hydroformed
side members. But the Opel GT also breaks new ground in another regard: the
GT model family belongs to the first car line produced in significant numbers
to have numerous exterior parts made using a procedure that is relatively
time-consuming, but provides designers with greater creative freedom. The
hood is one example: thanks to unconventional hydraulic technology - known
as super forming - the long hood section with its front hinges was optimally
integrated into the roadster’s silhouette without a gap between the
hood and fender.
Information
concerning specifications and equipment applies to the models offered in
Germany. There may be differences in other markets. All data on fuel consumption
refers to combined fuel consumption of the base model in the European test
cycle. Prices recommended retail prices in Germany ex works including VAT.
Subject to alteration.