Archive for Opel

The new Vauxhall Insignia (UK name, also called the Opel Insignia in Europe and Buick Regal in China) has been voted as the 2009 Car of the Year (Europe)!

The Insignia won by the tiniest 1 point margin - 321 points, beating the first runner up, the Ford Fiesta to the pole. Trailing behind in third place is the new Volkswagen Golf Mark 6 with 223 points. The last time a car won by 1 point was in the 2001 awards where the Alfa 147 beat the Mondeo by one point.

Other finalists included the Alfa Romeo MiTo with 148 points, the Citroen C5 with 198 points, the Skoda Superb with 144 points, and the Renault Megane with 121 points. To quality for the awards, a car must be launched within the past 12 months and must be available in at least five European countries.

There has been much fuss about the new Insignia from the European motoring press and this news should be a slight bit of music to GM’s ears during the difficult times they’re facing now. There is speculation that the Insignia will bring back the Lotus Carlton in spirit form. The old Carlton was also a Vauxhall/Opel, and the top of the line Insignia’s 260 PS 2.8 liter turbocharged V6 would be quite tuner-friendly, making the job easier.

The COTY awards jury is made up of 50 senior motoring journos from 23 countries, and the UK jury includes Steve Cropley of Autocar, Andrew English of the Daily Telegraph, Ray Hutton of the Sunday Times, Paul Horrell of Top Gear UK, John Simister of The Indepedent and Phil McNamara of Car Magazine.

Look after the jump for more photos and a video of the Insignia

Click here to read the rest of Vauxhall Insignia wins 2009 Car of the Year award!

The Opel Zafira people mover is now available with a 1.6 liter turbocharged CNG engine that produces 150 horsepower and 210Nm of torque, the rough equivalent of a very torquey normally aspirated 2.0 liter engine. Relying on the on-board CNG tanks alone, it can travel up to 370km thanks to its 4 separate CNG tanks and a 14 liter backup regular gasoline tank (obviously downsized from the gasoline-only model) provides up to 150km of additional mileage for you to get to a CNG station and fill her up.

Now this is the kind of powertrain that we need in the new Proton MPV, forget the CNG, even a nice small displacement turbocharged would be nice to provide a relaxed and torquey drive without having to rev the engine much.

Click here to read the rest of Opel Zafira powered by 1.6 liter CNG turbo engine

The new Opel Insignia (badged as a Vauxhall in the UK) is now in China, badged as a Buick. The Insignia is wearing the Buick Regal badge, the nameplate of a car that used to be a D-segment contender in China but has since been replaced by the Buick LaCrosse, which is also sold in China.

The last time there was a Regal in China was back in mid-2004 before it was replaced by the LaCrosse. The Buick LaCrosse is due for replacement soon though, with its lifecycle expected to end in 2009. GM is also planning a new LaCrosse based on the same Epsilon II platform that the Insignia/Regal uses, so does this mean China will have two Buicks of similiar size?

It will initially be offered with two inline-4 petrol engines. One is a 2.4 liter normally aspirated unit putting out 165 horsepower, probably the LE5 from the GM Family II engine range. The other would be the 2.0 all-aluminium direct injection turbo found in the European Insignia, putting out 220 PS and 350Nm of torque between 2,000 to 5,200rpm. It also features twin balancer shafts to smoothen out vibration.

Look after the jump for a full gallery of the Buick Regal.

Click here to read the rest of New Buick Regal for China based on Insignia

General Motors has unveiled the Opel Meriva Concept at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. The Meriva Concept previews the production version of the next generation Opel Meriva, and GM has announced that the rearward opening rear doors will make it to the production version.

View the unveiling video as well as some presentations by GM employees after the jump, and notice they add the word Flex in front of just about anything!

Related Posts:
Opel Meriva Concept at Geneva 2008

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Opel Meriva Concept

General Motors will be showcasing the next generation Opel Meriva as a concept car next month at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. The first generation 5-seater Opel Meriva which made its debut in 2002 has a flexible interior called FlexSpace.

The second row bench can be split apart to create individual seats, joined together to seat 3, folded into the floor, and it can also be adjusted fore and aft to vary the split between second row legroom and boot space. The seats can be pushed to the far rear of the car for maximum boot space.

The new Opel Meriva will continue the flexibility theme with new FlexDoors, They aren’t exactly all that flexible, it’s just that the rear doors are rear-hinged but they open independently of the front doors so they aren’t exactly typical suicide doors like the ones on the RX8. The Meriva will also most likely be badged as a Vauxhall and a Chevrolet, depending on markets. It will built on the new GM-Fiat Gamma SCCS (Small Common Components and Systems) platform.

More photos of the Opel Meriva Concept after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Opel Meriva Concept at Geneva 2008

Opel’s Flextreme Concept is GM’s third E-Flex vehicle, with the first two being two variants of the Chevrolet Volt concept car shown earlier in January this year. The Opel Flextreme is a more European-focused car than the Volt which seems to be American-centric so its only natural that the Flextreme be based on diesel technology instead of the first E-Flex car’s flex-fuel technology. The E-Flex lithium ion battery pack is charged by a 1.3 liter inline-4 Ecotec turbodiesel engine.

The concept car features suicide doors, and the boot of the car carries a pair of Segway scooters, which can be charged from the Flextreme’s on-board electrical system. On a full charge, the car can go 64 kilometers before it needs to be charged by either the on-board turbodiesel or a plug-in system which allows the batteries to be charged via a conventional power outlet. If you factor in the turbodiesel engine using all of it’s fuel to continuously keep the batteries charged, maximum mileage on a full charge + a full tank of diesel is 715km - this is shorter than the Chevy Volt’s 1000km combined range.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
Chevrolet Volt Concept

Click here to read the rest of Opel Flextreme Concept to debut at Frankfurt 2007