Opel / Vauxhall have announced that the Opel Meriva Concept will have its debut at this year's Geneva auto show. The Opel Meriva Concept, showcasing GM’s future small monocab, shares some design cues with the GTC Coupe and Flextreme concepts. One of the interesting features of the Opel Meriva Concept is the sweep in the window line level at the B-pillar that enables the rear passengers to have a better view.
Opel Press Release:
Meriva Concept: Vision Of Future Small Opel Monocab
Concept world premiere at Geneva Motor Show
Rüsselsheim. With the Opel Meriva Concept, Opel presents the next level of monocab flexibility at the International Motor Show in Geneva (March 6 – 16, 2008). The vision of a future small monocab – a segment that the current Meriva has led since its launch in 2003 –boasts more than just new design cues: “We’re unveiling an innovative approach for even greater flexibility in Opel monocabs,” says Alain Visser, Chief Marketing Officer, GM Europe, before the concept’s debut in Geneva. “With the Zafira’s Flex7 seating system and the Meriva’s FlexSpace concept, we began a new era in interior variability and permanently changed the world of the automobile.”
With Zafira, Meriva and soon Agila, Opel is enjoying great success with its monocab design – body models where the hood and trunk are not visibly separate from the cabin. Almost 335,000 segment-leading Zafira and Meriva models were sold in 2007. Every fifth Opel model sold today is a monocab, while in the whole market the quota is just every eighth car.
The Opel Meriva Concept transfers the brand’s new design language to a small monocab and enhances it further. The side profile boasts the distinctive tick-shaped swage line, which was a typical design cue which appeared on the
GTC Coupé and Flextreme concepts. Especially eye-catching is the sweep in the window line level at the B-pillar, enabling an especially good view for rear passengers. Rear section elements – in particular the rear lights – echo the Insignia, Opel’s new mid-size class car due to be launched in the fall. The monocab’s roof sloping gently downward toward the rear underlines the car’s dynamic character.
Vauxhall Press Release:
MERIVA CONCEPT TO MAKE GENEVA DEBUT
Vision of GM’s future small monocab
Design cues from other concepts including GTC Coupe and Flextreme
Due to be unveiled on March 4th
Already Europe’s market leader in the monocab sector, with one in five pan-European sales being a Zafira, Meriva or Agila, Vauxhall and Opel are set to unveil their vision of the future at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4th.
The Vauxhalll Meriva Concept draws styling cues from previous GM styling studies to show how the company’s next generation small monocab could look, including the distinctive tick-shaped swage
line and neat rear lamp clusters that typified the GTC Coupe and Flextreme models.
Another neat feature of the Vauxhalll Meriva Concept is the shape of the glass area, which swoops down towards the B-Pillar – a feature that would allow rear seat passengers a better all-round view if it were offered on a production model.
The Vauxhalll Meriva Concept is one of three GM world premieres set to appear at the show.
