Kelmas
01-24-2006, 11:26 AM
Opel is to launch its GT roadster, the successor to the Speedster (Vauxhall VX200), at the Geneva Motor Show.
It revives the GT badge last used on the two-seater made during 1968-73, though it will not be a retro recreation of that model: it's effectively a rebadged version of the Saturn Sky, a roadster sold in the US.
The Sky shares its basic underpinnings - GM's Kappa rear-wheel drive platform - with the Pontiac Solstice, but the GT is, say insiders, far more like the Sky than the Solstice. It will, however, feature the same 260bhp 2.0-litre supercharged direct-injection engine as the Solstice GXP; the normally-aspirated 2.0-litre Ecotec unit as in the Sky may also be offered as an entry-level option. The GT is unlikely to get the standard Solstice's sluggish 177bhp 2.4, however.
To be built alongside the Sky and Solstice in Wilmington, Delaware, the GT will be available in left-hand drive from only - the Kappa platform cannot be re-engineered to accommodate a steering wheel on the right. Though Vauxhall has not yet made a firm decision on its UK strategy for the model, the GT is not likely to be offered as a Vauxhall. Instead, UK dealers will be able to obtain Opel-badged GTs from their Continental counterparts on a special-order basis.
Prices have not yet been confirmed, but they're likely to be around the 20,000 mark. Expect more details to be announced in Geneva next month.
Source: Channel 4
It revives the GT badge last used on the two-seater made during 1968-73, though it will not be a retro recreation of that model: it's effectively a rebadged version of the Saturn Sky, a roadster sold in the US.
The Sky shares its basic underpinnings - GM's Kappa rear-wheel drive platform - with the Pontiac Solstice, but the GT is, say insiders, far more like the Sky than the Solstice. It will, however, feature the same 260bhp 2.0-litre supercharged direct-injection engine as the Solstice GXP; the normally-aspirated 2.0-litre Ecotec unit as in the Sky may also be offered as an entry-level option. The GT is unlikely to get the standard Solstice's sluggish 177bhp 2.4, however.
To be built alongside the Sky and Solstice in Wilmington, Delaware, the GT will be available in left-hand drive from only - the Kappa platform cannot be re-engineered to accommodate a steering wheel on the right. Though Vauxhall has not yet made a firm decision on its UK strategy for the model, the GT is not likely to be offered as a Vauxhall. Instead, UK dealers will be able to obtain Opel-badged GTs from their Continental counterparts on a special-order basis.
Prices have not yet been confirmed, but they're likely to be around the 20,000 mark. Expect more details to be announced in Geneva next month.
Source: Channel 4