The Opel GT Concept Is A Pretty Coupe WIth A Tiny Engine
As well as lots of cool new cars, the looming Geneva Motor Show means outlandish concepts. Lots of outlandish concepts. Case in point? The new Opel GT concept, which has just been revealed.
Well, this one’s from the UK press release, so it’s actually badged as a Vauxhall through some Photoshop trickery. You might have already been able to tell from the pixels and from having seen a few ‘shops in your time.
Leaving virtual badge-engineering to one side, let’s take a look at what we have here. It’s a handsome-looking two-door coupe, and is awash with typically bonkers concept details. On the GT that takes the form of red front tyres (obviously), cameras in the place of conventional wing mirrors and a special coating on the front windows, making it look like the sides of the car are just big, uninterrupted expanses of metal.
What’s under the bonnet is a little less interesting than the striking exterior, as it’s a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder lump also found in the Adam, Corsa and Astra. “Ah!” I bet you’re thinking, “it’s going to be turbocharged to the nines, isn’t it?” Unfortunately not - it puts out a rather modest 144bhp - up from the standard engine’s 104bhp - making 0-62mph possible in just under eight seconds.
The 276bhp 2.0-litre engine from the Astra VXR/OPC might have made for some more entertaining figures - particularly as the GT weighs only 1000kg - but hey, it’s rear-wheel drive at least, with power sent to the rear non-red boots via a six-speed sequential gearbox.
So, does all this mean Opel is about to build a rear-wheel drive sports car? Most likely not. The gorgeous Monza concept - which partly influences the design of the GT - never amounted to anything, and Opel doesn’t have a rear-driven chassis in its armoury right now. Still, if you’re heading down to the Geneva Motor Show - where it’ll be on display from 3 March - it’ll be a pretty thing to go and gawp at.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
It’s really bugging me that everyone’s losing their minds over this car, I just don’t get the fuss. Opel/Vauxhall hasn’t made an interesting car in ages, so why on Earth do people seem to think this would be any different?
For a start, it’s never going to get made, so it’s utterly pointless - it doesn’t even hint at future anythings from the company since it uses an engine already available (to be fair it’s a bloody good engine, I drove it in the Corsa, but it’s not fun) and I promise you no Vauxhall or Opel will look anything like this for the next few years.
I just do not see the point, they’re just showing us the sort of thing they don’t make and never will. I don’t know why this car is making me so irrationally angry - probably because everyone on Twitter seems to be losing their minds over it - but it does. Silly, pointless thing that looks like a supermarket value brand toy car.
It’s probably hyped up because it kind of goes back to the original Opel GT. Small coupe with small engine. And as I say myself it certainly looks nice and it would be pretty cool to drive. Maybe they also make it this way so it’s cheap to drive.
I think it’s highly exaggerated to say there hasn’t been a nice Opel/Vauxhall car in ages. Not counting the Holden rebadges, there are actually quite a few nice ones. The Corsa OPC handles really well and the top-of-the-line engine in the Insignia gets it to 62 in just about 8 seconds.
When Opel released their original Opel GT prototype in 1965, they haven’t made anything interesting in ages either. Well, maybe the Diplomat with V8, but that was pretty much it. And if you look at the historical performance and price of the Opel GT, this one comes as close as it can.
The only thing I really despise is that they are deliberately making it look as far away from serial production as possible. No side windows and science-fiction tyres and star fighter steering wheel etc , what is this supposed to be? That’s just ridiculous.
i’ve never seen a CT staff member hate a car so much
Steady on there. Vauxhall/Opel don’t build interesting cars? Do you even VXR8 bro? Corsa VXR? Astra VXR? Insignia VXR?
I can see this becoming a new Tigra. Although, that market sector has all but vanished now.
That’s not even that pretty imo
It’s meant to be a small nimble sports coupe. Like a miata coupe. 270Hp would be far too much. It should be a drivers car. Affordable and easy to drive on the limits. And a 1l 3cyl turbo can be sporty!Just look at the Fiesta R2 rallycar.
Or look at the Smart Roadster 3cyl 698ccm ;) Very fun car to drive
270 horsepower is not too much. For a small sports coupe like this, it would be wicked fast and a ton of fun to drive. My gti has ~270 horsepower (and 310 lb/ft of torque) albeit probably a bit heavier than this car would be. Nonetheless if you think 270 horsepower is too much, drive a car with a similar output and your mind would be changed
Lida remindo the amo gt
Smells like an LS swap to me
What’s with the front tires?
Screw opel and their engines, they always break down, need to much oil and sooo bloody slow, you should not be happy about this, it looks like every concept car that wont make it past prototype, thats it im out
I have Opel, car is breaking down but I think that the engine can break only if I toss it from the fifth floor. 340 000 km without issue
The design is super cool. Looks like a mixture of mag gt, maserati and mazda mx5. The performance although is not very appealing. 0-62 in 8 sec? That’s way too much even for an affordable sports car. Top speed is also very disappointing! After searching a lot for the specs of this car i found this site http://www.sportscarsvs.com/ which gave me detailed information on all specs.
I don’t know how a company like Opel dare to show concepts when actually they are not able to make a car that could be driven five years without need any electronic or engine related repair.