File this under “Things we never thought we’d report on.” It seems Opel and Vauxhall are taking the GT concept’s demand more serious than we once thought.
Originally, the brands had no intention to produce a production vehicle surrounding the small coupe shown at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. However, Opel CEO, Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, has shed some interesting engineering details.
Autocar reports engineers are looking into an adopted version of the Mokka crossover’s all-wheel drive system to pin a rear-wheel drive platform for a production Opel GT. Unnamed sources stated the rear differential from the Mokka could be adapted to the GT, and that a compact gearbox could easily be sourced for proper packaging, which can channel drive from an in-line mounted engine to the Mokka rear differential.
“It is true we have no rear-drive platform,” said Neumann, “but engineering is looking at a solution. There are possibilities.”
Heightened moral at both brands has also given life to the GT production project, after the Vauxhall-Opel Astra won European and UK car of the year. However, sources said to ere on the side of caution. A solid business case has yet to be proposed, but it is being sorted out as you read this.
Comments
Or are they looking to use the alpha platform?
I don’t think Alpha can go that small.
G2XX is the only platform GM has that can ship this car off of… unless they make a completely new platform, which hasn’t happened since Kappa.
In other words, torque vectoring front-based AWD that can rear-bias. Just like Focus RS.
I’m starting to become convinced this was like the Solstice – a production-ready concept that always did have a path to production… Opel was just playing coy claiming it was not intended for production to raise ire, and support for it in the long run.
Honestly, did anyone think they couldn’t build this car?
They need to convince the present owners of the MG sports car marque (the same people who are building and shipping in Buick Envisions this summer) to sit down and co-plan a new Opel, Vauxhall, Chevy (L’il Vette?) alongside a 21st century MGB Roadster. It would generate public interest and showroom traffic way beyond the modest bottom line for sales, and with an eye to the future they could use the exercise to pilot new ways of platform building and electric/ hybrid power trains.