Opel goes extreme with its Flextreme
Motoring Staff
2010-03-02
Besides its new Meriva, Ampera and Corsa making appearances at Geneva, Opel will also take the wraps off the attractive Flextreme.
Opel’s commitment to achieving power without the need for fossil fuels, electricity plays a key role, and the 4.7-metre long Flextreme GT/E concept illustrates how extended-range electric vehicle (E-REV) technology can be plugged into large or mid-sized vehicles, as well as compact cars, like the upcoming Ampera.
Opel calls its strategy ‘e-mobility unlimited’, which will effectively adapt the highly efficient E-REV drive system – which removes the limitations of battery-only power – to vehicles across all market segments. In other words, the Flextreme GT/E concept shows that size really doesn’t matter when it comes to driving a car with zero CO2 emissions.
The Flextreme GT/E achieves a projected drag co-efficient of just 0.22, allowing it to reach an estimated top speed of 200km/h-plus while conserving energy and extending the driving range. Stand-out visual features include a low, wide stance, wing-shaped lights front and rear, a distinctive nose and grille, ‘floating’ C-pillars and muscular, sculptured bodywork.
The clean frontal styling features a low bonnet line and an extended nose section, which is clasped by wing-shaped, signature LED headlamps, which are in turn carved into the front wings and across the bonnet line.
The new trapezoidal grille is slim but bold, with the prominent wing-shaped chrome bar carrying a large Vauxhall emblem, which doubles as a socket for charging the Flextreme GT/E’s battery pack.
The Flextreme GT/E concept is a logical next step towards Opel’s emerging strategy for the electrification of the car, which will in time include products using battery, extended-range, hybrid and fuel cell technologies.
