The Continental: Opel’s New Hot Hatch Could Become a Buick, a Name that Stinks, and Rebadged Commercial Vans

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.

Opel’s future is far from secure, but the German GM division is stepping on the accelerator regardless. The sporty, low Astra GTC—which could well be offered in the U.S. as a Buick model—will be crowned by an OPC version that produces 276 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. Power comes from a 2.0-liter four and is transmitted only to the front wheels; top speed is a governed 155 mph. OPC stands for “Opel Performance Center”—and in true OPC fashion, the stylistic improvements forfeit any subtlety of the basic design in favor of a “boy racer” look.

If the Astra GTC becomes a success, it will be a much-needed boost for Opel’s standing within General Motors. The mid-size Insignia, rebadged as the Buick Regal, is selling well in China, but lumbers significantly below expectations in the U.S. At least it succeeds in bringing a new and younger set of customers to the somewhat geriatric brand.

Mitsubishi is launching the PX-MiEV II concept car at the Tokyo motor show in a few weeks. I feel bad for Mitsubishi’s European staff. “MiEV” stands for “Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle,” but in the German language it is pronounced like “Mief,” which means “bad smell.” Is Mitsubishi referring to the emissions produced by those power stations that provide all of the energy needed by our “green” vehicles? After the i-MiEV naming disaster, there will be more hand-wringing at Mitsubishi Motors Europe.

BMW initiated the idea of the “art cars” in the 1970s, and it has served as a source of inspiration for carmakers across the board. Artist Freddy Reitz, who specializes in pop art, has created a Smart wrapped in the pattern of a well-weathered U.S. flag. Daimler is planning to make a small series of these cars, which will hit the road in early 2012. Details are not yet disclosed; Reitz’s original model is powered by a 70-hp gasoline engine.

Another special edition: Land Rover is adding the Defender “Experience Bolivia.” Limited to 140 units, it is painted metallic silver and equipped with extraordinary options such as ABS and air conditioning. Furthermore, it has an electric winch and a ladder to the roof. Power comes from a tractor-like 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel making 120 hp. We’re glad the original Land Rover is alive and kicking, and we hope the company comes up with a worthy replacement once the Defender goes out of production in three years or so.

Land Rover is also improving the Discovery and the Range Rover Sport, which share a common platform, with a more powerful V-6 turbo-diesel that makes 252 hp. No technological changes for the classic Range Rover, which carries on into its last year of production, still on the architecture of the first-generation BMW X5. An all-new, fourth generation will be launched next fall. Will it remain the world’s dominant luxury SUV? That’s not clear anymore—Bentley is aiming for the empty niche above the Range Rover.

The commercial vehicle world is different from the auto realm; brand image plays only a very minor role, and rebadging competitors’ vehicles is standard procedure. Take the Volkswagen Crafter, for example: It’s not much more than a slightly modified Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. But at least Wolfsburg is trying to best the Sprinter with an all-wheel-drive Crafter, converted by Austrian aftermarket company Achleitner and sold through VW. The conversion costs a whopping €19,950, which is over $27,000 at current exchange rates.

Opel, on the other hand, shows very little ambition with its Combo light commercial vehicle. The previous generation was based on Opel’s own Corsa, but with its own distinct styling, while the new European-market Combo is nothing but a rebadged Fiat Doblò. The Combo is just as ugly as the Doblò, too. It’s interesting to see GM team up with Fiat-Chrysler on another project, years after the cooperation between GM and Fiat went down in flames.

Read more »

The Continental: ESP Now Mandatory in Europe, and Some Tech News from Germany

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.

Mandatory nanny: In the EU, new cars with type approval awarded after November 1 must be equipped with a stability-control system. Cars that are already approved but don’t have ESP, such as the Land Rover Defender, get a brief pass: They can be sold without the nanny system for another three years, until November 1, 2014. Patented by supplier Robert Bosch in 1987, the system made its first appearance in the large Mercedes-Benz coupes eight years later. I assume most readers are familiar with it; the system is capable of braking each wheel individually to counter under- and oversteer. That’s good, and it arguably has reduced the number of severe accidents here. The annoying part is that the system doesn’t care whether you lost control of the car or merely wish to put it into a nice drift. Oversteer is killed off, and in many cars the stability control can’t be disabled, or only partly disabled. Cross these cars off my personal shopping list, please. And thanks, “Europe,” for the additional regulation.

The new BMW 3-series will be available with a head-up display, which is cool. I loved them on the late 1980s and early 1990s Nissans and GM vehicles, and was mystified by their disappearance. Having speed—and, nowadays, navigation directions—projected on the windscreen takes away a major distraction and allows you to keep your eyes on the road all the time. BMW’s 3-series uses a four-color projection, like the latest 5-, 6- and 7-series, and the X3. The fighter-jet aesthetics of the HUD are cool and contemporary, and they fit the new 3 well.

German car magazine Auto Bild reports that Mercedes-Benz will offer an ultra-lightweight derivative of the next-generation E-class, which—thanks to extensive use of carbon fiber—would tip the scales at almost 800 pounds less than its conventional, steel-bodied sister model. Sadly, those savings will be at least partly eaten up by the baggage that “alternative powertrains” bring with them, such as batteries and hydrogen tanks. Auto Bild further reports that Mercedes is considering a similar variation of the B-class, called—I am not kidding—”B clever.” And there could be another supercar positioned above the SLS AMG, with a carbon-fiber structure and highly contemporary design. Such a car would be a worthy successor of the C111 rotary-powered supercar, which almost made it into production in the early 1970s, before the oil crisis struck.

The fact that carmakers are seriously looking at weight reduction is great news. To me, Audi is a pioneer in this field, followed by Jaguar, with its fully aluminum structure and bodies. But cost has kept the technology confined to the luxury segment. As early as the mid-1990s, Audi had internally calculated the A6 as a fully aluminum car, like the A8, and then decided against it. It would have cost thousands more to produce.

Germany’s premium carmakers are struggling to create credible sub-brands for their “alterative propulsion” vehicles. Strictly speaking from a marketing point of view, BMW has done a superb job with its i sub-brand that will initially comprise of the i3 subcompact and i8 coupe (which is a plug-in hybrid, not an electric). It is not yet clear how much of the unique design language will be translated into the series-production models, but for now the products look convincing, and the “story” is coherent.

Audi’s e-tron seems a bit less ambitious, despite a number of very promising concept cars. But the first series-production models—the R8 e-tron and likely the A1 e-tron—are obvious derivatives of conventional Audis. Even less convincing—again, from a marketing point of view—is Daimler’s E-Cell and F-Cell strategy. Daimler has been talking about these vehicles for too long; there have been prototypes on the road for ages. There is an electric Smart, but Smart’s image has severely suffered in the past few years. Plus, the car has just about nothing in common with the SLS E-Cell, which describes the other end of the scale. Moreover, despite its share in the company, Daimler gets no kudos for the Tesla Model S, and good news about its Chinese cooperation partner BYD has become sparse. It would be undeserved if Daimler’s efforts on electric vehicles and fuel cells get drowned out, because, of the three premium carmakers in Germany, Daimler has arguably put the most consistent and sustained effort into alternative powertrains.

In an interview with German magazine Focus, Porsche CEO Matthias Müller restated his target to offer seven model ranges with a seven-year cycle, so that there is “great news” from Porsche every year. He claims that Porsche is serious about E-mobility, as evidenced by three Boxster E models (which are heavily subsidized by the government) currently roaming the Stuttgart area. Really? He also has this to say: “We will not see a breakthrough of this technology in the next five years.” An electric 911? “No experiments.” And here’s the real good news from Müller: “The E-hype will motivate further development of the internal-combustion engine.”

Read more »