Auto Channel

When Harley Earl created the first concept car, the Buick Y-Job, the idea was to showcase the ability of a company to develop new technologies, which would be applied to future vehicles in 10 to 20 years from that point on. Nowadays, especially after Chrysler started mass-producing its concept cars almost like they were first shown, these vehicles have changed their role. Now they are an anticipation of a series production vehicle that will reach the market within months. It has been like this, for example, with the Mercedes-Benz Vision GLK , which happened to be the future GLK, and will be the same with the Opel Meriva Concept, to be presented in March at the Geneva Motor Show.

Opel states that the new minivan will offer “an innovative approach for even greater flexibility” in its monocabs, but it would be much easier if the company only informed that the future generation of the Meriva will feature suicide rear doors, or else, they will open for the opposite side, what is said to ease access. Unlike the previous model, which was styled and developed in Brazil, this one seems to have been entirely developed by Opel. The explanation for this is that the current European Corsa, which will share its platform with the new Meriva, is not built in that country.

Besides the suicide doors, the new monocab will get styling cues from the Flextreme and GTC Coupe concepts, as well as the taillights that will be similar to the ones already revealed for the Insignia, a sedan that will replace Vectra when it is presented, in the British Motor Show, in July. Unless the final version of the next generation Meriva is also presented in the UK, we would expect its sales to start by September, after its official presentation at the Paris Motor Show.

Press Release

Geneva: Opel Meriva Concept World Premiere

Vision Of Future Small Opel Monocab

With the 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 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.

Related entries:

Opel Meriva Spied with Suicide Doors