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RikfromBelgium

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New Opel GT at 2006 Geneva Motor Show
Legendary Name Celebrates Comeback

The classic slogan "Nur Fliegen ist schöner" ("Only flying is more exciting") went down in the history of advertising, and applied to a car which has become a classic itself, the Opel GT. Now the Opel brand is reviving the legend with a new sports car that echoes the successful concept of its predecessor. The new two-seat GT features an exciting design with sharply cut lines, rear-wheel drive and a potent four-cylinder turbo engine with gasoline direct injection. The new roadster will celebrate its world premiere at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

The career of the original GT began with a bolt out of the blue. When Opel presented a two-seat sports car at the 1965 Frankfurt Motor Show it came as a complete surprise, especially as the GT was a total departure from the prevailing design trend in Europe at that time. The curvacious lines were inspired by a new style of US-design, the so-called "coke-bottle shape". The styling cues included a low front-end with pop-up headlights, pronounced rounded wheelarches, a narrow waist in the area of the doors, and even shapelier rear wheelarches ending in an abrupt tail-end. Over 100,000 units were produced between 1968 and 1973, and the GT has since become a coveted collector's item.

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martinbo

The Solstice hasn't exactly endeared itself to European journalists so things look bleak for this new Opel GT... tell me, do you see this as a replacement for the VX 220 or an altogether different model. I can't even remember if the VX 220 is still in production! Sheesh - I'm getting old.

I'd rather have a badge-engineered Lotus Elise than a badge-engineered Pontiac...





I suspect that this car's only saving grace will be that fabulous ECOTEC turbo engine.

Top Secret

If I'm not mistaken, the Opel GT is basically a Saturn Sky not a Solstice, but rebadged.

But then things get a bit confusing. If I was to read correctly at the time of the Sky's debut in NA, the car was actually to become the new Speedster or , as we now know, the GT - but it was actually designed and developed by Opel, meaning, this is a real Opel inside and out, and the Sky was really a rebadge of an Opel, before the Opel actually made it's debut.

Weird, I know, and I won't be suprised if many people don't understand what I'm trying to explain.

martinbo

I understand exactly what you're saying and you're just about spot on (except about the Solstice bit but heck who cares ).

So, is the VX 220 dead and buried? It'd be a crying shame if that were the case.

Andaluz

As an Opel GT revival, I was expecting a bigger effort from Opel.

It lacks that sense of occasion somehow.

You can't help thinking, that there is a bit of "cost-cutting feel" in it.

I'm not saying it'll be a bad car, but...is just not really passionate enough as the other Opels.

If they were going to make a "new" Opel GT, why they didn't make something unique to the other GM roadsters?

Why has to be a shameless rebadge?

And why they didn't make it as Coupé instead of a Roadster?

This car is not just Deja-Vu from the American Saturn SKY, but it's not a proper homage to the Opel GT name either. Even though this one has a hefty 2.0 16V Turbo 260 Bhp.

Is just another GM rebadge, that will originate a Vauxhall rebadge. What's so exciting about it?

martinbo

Mmm yes, nice points Andaluz. More than that "cost-cutting feel" I reckon this car has an aura of desperation about it projected from bankrupt parent company GM.

hu§eindesign

Actually I have the feeling that it's the other way round. The Design fits 100% into Opel's line-up. Maybe it was not that good for Opel to launch the car about a year after Saturn did with the Sky, but it was a necessary to push Saturn's image up.
The Sky is a rebadged GT and not the opposite.

I like it a lot, like all new Opels

martinbo

Hussein do you know if the Elise-based VX 220 has been dropped from the Opel range? I can find no reference to that car on Vauxhalls UK site so I suspect that it's been dropped from GM's european line-up altogether...

Which leads me to guess that the GT is a sort of VX replacement. And that's a tough legacy to live up to... Aesthetics aside, Opels these days lack the dynamic ability and even user-friendly practicality of their competitive counterparts. An Astra VXR is outclassed by the Golf GTI despite the latter's power deficit and the Mazda MX5 looks to have the measure of the Solstice/Sky/GT by way of a few example.

Maybe new Opels look good but I don't think they're great products anymore - a reflection on GM's poor showing ($4.78 billion loss) of late.