Wednesday 21st August 2013

Monza concept for Frankfurt

Sorry Vauxhall, you can claim the name but to us the Monza will always be an Opel

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BMW take note. This is how you do a concept. There are basic rules in this game and a few bits of chrome trim on a pre-production prototype everyone knows is but a few months from going on sale doesn't cut it, even on the immaculately manicured lawns of Pebble Beach.

Now that's what we call a concept car

Take a leaf from Opel's book, for instance. Obviously the UK market press release we received substitutes 'Vauxhall' into the name but for us the Monza will always be an Opel, whether it's a creaky 80s coupe with a velour interior or a 21st-century concept car with all the trimmings, including compulsory gullwing doors, rubber band tyres on outsized wheels and some near future technology claimed as being 'close to production'.

You also need an announcement packed with blah, blah, blah corporate language about visions of the automotive future and 'innovative technologies wrapped in captivating design' that could have been lifted from any previous concept press release of the last 30 years.

As such the Opel Monza Concept ticks all the boxes and warms our hearts, preserving the tradition of motor show concept cars being the stuff of dreams rather than product of a bored marketing department.

Quick, photoshop some Vauxhall logos in!

What further detail do we have about the Monza concept then? Well, "the sculptural surfaces of the 4.69-metre long, four-seat Monza Concept are modelled after ocean waves lapping on the shore." And the near-future tech? LED projection technology that gives the driver a "wide, sculpted dashboard that sweeps from door to door and is used as a single projection surface. Information and decorative elements are displayed on the surface, which the driver can customise according to his needs, taste, or mood."

Motive power is designed to be similarly adaptable to the current vogue with a modular design based around a compressed natural gas range extender to power an electric drivetrain in the Frankfurt car. This is a CNG development of the Ampera's powertrain using a new 1.0-litre SIDI motor but other powertrains could feasibly be incorporated. If they were ever going to make it, obviously.

[Sources: Sniff Petrol]

[myhandle]

Possibly the most interesting looking Opel since the Bertone Slalom.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bertone+slalom&amp...

[IknowJoseph]

An interesting looking Vauxhall, just what we need tailgating everyone wherever we drive, filling our rear view mirrors as only a frustrated non-Audi driver could.

Grumble, grumble, Vauxhall, grumble...

[Action jack84]

Its still a bloody Opel .... Vauxhall as a brand has been dead for ages

[PlankWithANailIn]

Wheres the car, all i can see is some computer generated pictures.

[theJT]

"This is how you do a concept"

Really? Really? I mean what's the bloody point? We all know they're not going to put gullwings on whatever this ends up actually being, so why bother here? It's just something they do to stop the design department from getting bored. Stop pissing about and put the effort into designing us a new Monza coupe that doesn't look like it's already been in a horrific accident.

"modelled after ocean waves lapping on the shore"

What pretentious nonsense.

[ArnageWRC]

Please bring back the Manta....... and don't badge it as a Vauxhall....

[mitch78]

@TheJT, if ever Pistonheads needed a like button...

[danielj58]

Not really the best concept, it does nothing for Opel's current design language.. At least BMWs is near enough production ready.

[Beefmeister]

Sources: Sniff Petrol

[Cotty]

It looks ok but the real version will never look like this.

[LordFlathead]

pRoPeR mOnZa





Ian will be along shortly to fill this thread with real pictures

[300bhp/ton]

Dan Trent of Piston Heads said:

Sorry Vauxhall, you can claim the name but to us the Monza will always be an Opel

I suppose there is some irony here, in that Opel has been under full control and owned by General Motors since 1931... making any Monza a GM product

[callyman]

Action jack84 said:

Its still a bloody Opel .... Vauxhall as a brand has been dead for ages

Of course you are right, hardly seen a Vauxhall on the road lately.

[robinessex]

Never work. Body will have the torsional stifness of a jelly. Probably never pass crash legislation either.

[Monza Phil]

That concept has made me do some sick.

[MX7]

It won't happen, but if it does I think that Vauxhall should look at Toyota/Lexus, and reintroduce Opel.

[300bhp/ton]

MX7 said:

It won't happen, but if it does I think that Vauxhall should look at Toyota/Lexus, and reintroduce Opel.

erm ok...

[6750cc]

Looks like Opel have got lazy and just updated the 1967 Lamborghini Marzal concept...

[MX7]

300bhp/ton said:

erm ok...

Thanks for your opinion.

[kambites]

That really is quite exceptionally ugly. Makes the Panamera look almost well proportioned.