WHEELY CLEVER Yellow flashes trick the eye into thinking the 17-inch rims are much bigger, blending eye-catching design with the prospect of better ride quality.
Vauxhall’s fresh start With the transition to French ownership complete, Vauxhall faces the future with a clean new look. By Jake Groves
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HIS ISN’T JUST A BIT of eye candy for Vauxhall to wheel out at motor shows. No, the GT X Experimental concept has the heavy burden of signalling both a new era of Vauxhall design and the official start of its new status as part of France’s Groupe PSA, not America’s GM. ‘The change meant a massive opportunity for us,’ says Mark Adams, Vauxhall and sister brand Opel’s design chief. ‘Not only are we clearly in the process of moving our vehicle architectures to a different set of platforms, but we had the opportunity to think about what we do as a brand from a design point of view. This is an opportunity for us to redefine what we wanted to be.’ If the new concept looks a little familiar, that’s because elements are carried over from the Opel GT concept car from 2016, which featured clean surfaces, a red sweep running over the side window line and red tyres. It looks even better now, bringing fresh reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for 161-year-old Vauxhall. It’s smaller than many concepts, with dimen-
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sions close to those of the current Corsa and trimmer than Vauxhall’s compact crossover duo, the Crossland X and Mokka X. ‘Normally when you see concepts they’re very extreme, but they have little bearing on reality,’ says Adams. ‘Vauxhall and Opel are brands that are in the mainstream, appealing to real people. We thought: “Let’s create a concept that’s relevant in today’s market.” SUVs are growing in popularity but they’re changing because they’re bringing more car-like attributes.’ That explains why so many of the details of the GT X are clean like a hatchback, rather than overtly chunky in common SUV fashion. Adams speaks of how the concept beats a drum for purity and boldness and points to a tradition of clean British design from the likes of Colin Chapman-era Lotus, domestic-appliance guru James Dyson and Apple’s revered design chief Jonathan Ive, blending together with modern German engineering culture. The glass ‘visor’ – instead of a conventional grille – for example, is both a reference to the an-
THE SHARP END The angular glass ‘visor’ houses the lights as well as the sensors needed to guide Level 3 autonomous driving. As this is an electric car, there’s no need for a radiator grille. Vertical and horizontal creases on the bonnet and nose point to the grifin badge, proudly making it a focal point.
gular headlight covers on classic Vauxhall Firenzas and Opel Mantas and a neat way of concealing lidar scanners and various other sensors needed for the semi-autonomous driving equipment on board the GT X. The ‘compass’ of lines that includes the central bonnet crease and winged daytime running lights is also aimed at focusing the eye on the Griffin and Bolt badges. ‘Vauxhall and Opel are perceived in not as positive a way as the brands deserve,’ Adams says. The focal point is intended to display more confidence in the brands. Concept cars often sit on oversize wheels, but that’s not the case here. The alloys themselves are only 17 inches, but they look larger thanks to the flashes of yellow playing tricks on the eye. Tech-wise, the GT X is an all-electric vehicle fitted with a 50kWh lithium-ion battery and wireless inductive charging, which Vauxhall
Electric concept says is a nod to the brand’s future electrification won’t turn into a plans, starting with the Grandland X PHEV in production car, but its 2019 and Corsa EV in 2020, with the whole Vaux- bold simplicity hall car range eventually becoming fully electri- will characterise new Vauxhalls fied by 2024. The cockpit’s combination of instruments and infotainment screen, dubbed Pure Panel, is presented to the driver in one oblong display, with air vents subtly housed behind it and slim rearview screens instead of door mirrors, showing images from pop-out rear-view cameras. The four seats, all mounted to the centre CLEANING UP INSIDE console rather than the floor, look like The Pure Panel cockpit is they’re floating, helping the interior the result of a ‘visual detox’. One huge curved screen deals feel airy. with the instrumentation and So will any of this actually make infotainment, and two slim ones production? The new ‘visor’ and ‘comact as displays for the rear-view cameras. Cleaner designs will pass’ motifs will start appearing from slowly be phased in with new 2020. Before then, next year’s new Corsa models. will have some of the concept’s boldness and simplicity, says Adams, if not many of its details.
‘You expect me to balk?’ ‘No, Mr Customer, I expect you to buy!’
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HE BOND FILMS are full of mad schemes. But few can match this: Aston Martin is building 25 DB5s to the specification of James Bond’s gadget-laden spy car from Goldfinger. Yes, really. Aston Martin has worked with Eon Productions and Oscar-winning special effects boffin Chris Corbould to create the new cars, built at the DB5’s original home in Newport Pagnell and painted in the same Silver Birch as the real thing. Like the recent DB4 GTs, they’re ‘continuation’ cars – newly built to old specifications, rather than restored originals. The Goldfinger DB5s are said to include functioning gadgets, but the only one confirmed is the revolving number plates. Much as we’d love to see the movie car’s oil slick squirter, ejector seat and machine guns, we’re not expecting them. Still, at least it’ll be fun to drive with a 282bhp 4.0-litre straight-six and 7.1sec 0-62mph launch time, right? Except the cars are not road legal, so they’ll be confined to pootling around your private country estate, racetrack or super-villain island hideaway when deliveries of the £2.75m (plus taxes) cars start in 2020. Meanwhile, back in something more closely resembling the real world, Aston Martin has confirmed that it’s about to float on the London Stock Exchange. The plan is expected to involve the company being valued at around £5bn and a £1 billion stake being offered, allowing investment in new products. Aston has been bankrupt seven times in its 105-year history, but is now – with backing from big Italian and Kuwaiti investors – healthily profitable. Daimler is expected to retain its 4.5 per cent holding. JAKE GROVES
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