Opel Monza concept car rides the waves

[Hum]

It's an unwritten auto industry rule of thumb: Any concept car will gullwing doors has exactly zero chance of production outside of a Lamborghini factory. To prove the point, here's the Opel Monza concept, less a proposal for a real model than a chance for General Motors' troubled European arm to drum up some excitement ahead of next month's Frankfurt auto show.

As far as the exterior styling goes, the Monza takes some of the waveforms flowing across Mazdas and reapplies them with good results, although Opel could use other colors than gray on their concepts. Inside, Opel claims it's the first automaker to turn the entire dashboard into a giant LED projector screen, overlooking that Ford's forgotten 24-7 concept from the Detroit Auto Show 13 years ago had the very same idea.

Power in the concept comes from a Volt-like extended range electric system, with the motor running on compressed natural gas. All of this is doable, but Opel has lacked the money and the ambition to put anything like this into production over the past few decades. At this point, any change of direction would be welcome.

more

[tsupersonic]

I really like that design. The front looks like the car is high though  :laugh:

[Hum]

I'd think the 'door' opening would knock people out. :huh:

[HawkMan]

Would be hard to get in and out of, at least for taller people as you have to walk crouched, making it hard to get in.

Besides that, it's an Opel, there's no excuse for buying an Opel or rebranded opel(ie vauxhal)

[adrynalyne]

Would be hard to get in and out of, at least for taller people as you have to walk crouched, making it hard to get in.

Besides that, it's an Opel, there's no excuse for buying an Opel or rebranded opel(ie vauxhal)

They make trucks for people that are freakishly tall :p

[tsupersonic]

I'd think the 'door' opening would knock people out. :huh:

It's a standard gullwing type door, except bigger. I can see problems and challenges with this design. First, it would have to be assisted with hydraulics, because that is going to be heavy. If not, it's got to be an automatic open/close mechanism. That door also has to be really rigid. I wonder how the windows are going to work. It just looks like a giant slab of glass on each side. 

 

But, Top Gear shows us the advantages us to Gullwing doors :laugh: Start at 2:48

[Kami-]

It's already got Vauxhall badging ;P

[FiB3R]

Am I the only one that was expecting an amphibious vehicle? :/