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- 1965 Experimental GT: When we look at this icon of automotive design, it immediately becomes clear that this vehicle already embodied today’s design credo “Sculptural Artistry meets German Precision” to contemporary perfection. In 1965, the heart of every Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) visitor beat faster at the sight of the Experimental GT’s breathtaking lines, while journalists and industry experts were impressed with the unique, front mid-engined concept and the sporty two-seater’s novel, pop-up headlamps.
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- An iconic sketch of the Opel Experimental GT by Erhard Schnell, who led Opel’s Advanced Studio. This department had no equivalent in the European industry and immediately started working on the Experimental GT, an affordable, exciting sports car presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1965.
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- Opel’s design team led by Erhard Schnell (standing right) try out the future Opel GT’s interior at Opel’s brand new Advanced Studio.
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- Open-air versions of the future GT were also envisaged for the US market, as this sketch from Erhard Schnell shows.
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- The Experimental GT went through speedy development to become the Opel GT. This is a validation session with Bob Lutz, head of Opel Sales and Marketing (second from right) and none other than VIP consultant and 5-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio (second from left).
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- Following the stunning success of the Experimental GT at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Opel decided to put the car into production. While engineers were developing the chassis and powertrain of the future Opel GT, designers adapted its shape for production, which required creating new sketches and clay models.
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- 1969, Opel CD – the next bull’s eye: Encouraged by the positive public response to the Experimental GT and the great market success of the series production GT, Opel designers in Research and Advanced Design concentrated on designing visionary coupés and sports cars. In 1969, the Opel Design Team under the leadership of Charles “Chuck” M. Jordan hit its next bull’s eye at the IAA in Frankfurt – the Opel CD. This luxury, two-seat coupé with a V8 engine was based on the Diplomat (CD = Coupé Diplomat) and conceived from the outset – as people say today – as a concept car not intended for series production.
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- It was, instead, intended to provide a look ahead to the development of cars in the 1970s, and to clearly indicate the future path of Opel design. With the elegant CD, measuring just 1.11 meters in height, Opel designers again managed to appeal to people’s hearts and minds. Its clean styling, with a “wraparound” windshield without A-pillars which opened up like the canopy of a fighter jet, whetted people’s appetite. On the other hand, the operating concept, with its firmly installed seats and the individually-adjustable cockpit (pedals, steering wheel, instrument panel), demonstrated the technological precision of German engineering.
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- 1975, Genève Concept: The team from Advanced Design made the Opel Genève even sportier and more emotionally charged. As its name suggests, the car was presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in 1975. This small and tapered mid-engined two-seater, with the pop-up headlamps typical for Opel concept cars at that time, was to be powered by a two-disk Wankel engine – hence its original model designation, GTW. But as a result of the oil crisis, the Wankel project was halted due to concerns about the engine’s high fuel consumption, and the previously planned series production of the vehicle was stopped.
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- 1975, GT2 Concept: The second concept car of 1975 clearly showed that the Opel designers had readjusted their focus. The team led by Erhard Schnell, the longtime head of the Advanced Design department, was now focusing more on fuel consumption and aerodynamics, all claims to sportiness notwithstanding. At the same time, customers’ safety and comfort demands were growing. Opel’s convincing answer to these trends was the GT2. Only 4.19 meters long and 1.17 meters high, this sleek coupé with a front mid-engine was not only the star at the Opel stand in 1975, but also the absolute highlight of the entire Frankfurt IAA.
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- With its retractable headlamps, rear wheel covers and flush-bonded windows, the GT2 achieved a drag coefficient of just Cd 0.326, sensational for that time. Opel Design Director Henry G. Haga said: “Optimal aerodynamic design has created a body shape that ensures low fuel consumption, the best crosswind stability, the best operating comfort, outstanding handling and ideal weight distribution, as well as ample space for occupants and luggage.“ In addition, the Opel GT2 boasted futuristic sliding doors, ventilated seats and, for the first time, digital gauges instead of the conventional round instruments, as well as an on-board computer. With the GT2, Opel Design foretold – 40 years ago – an automotive future that we are experiencing today.
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- 1983, Opel Junior: No other car anticipated the social changes in Europe of the 1990s better than the Opel Junior of 1983. At just 3.41 meters long, this four-seater was ideally suited for the increasingly congested urban traffic conditions. The impressive drag coefficient of Cd 0.31 from its rounded body made a crucial contribution to exemplary fuel consumption of just 4.0l/100 km. Moreover, the Junior’s numerous innovative details – mainly developed by young designers Chris Bangle and Gert Volker Hildebrand – responded to people’s growing need for leisure time.
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- The removable seat upholstery in the Junior could be used as sleeping bags or picnic blankets, the radio and speakers could be detached and taken along to the beach or picnic, and the customer could plug extras into the instrument panel, such as a tachometer, navigation system, onboard computer or an audio system. The Opel Junior received the renowned “Car Design Award” in 1984 for its outstanding technical and creative solutions.
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- 2003, Insignia Concept: “Sculptural Artistry Meets German Precision.” This is the vision for the beginning of the 21st century. The seeds of a design strategy that would later be articulated as “Sculptural Artistry Meets German Precision” were sown with the unveiling of the Insignia concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in 2003. It was the work of Mark Adams, now GM Europe Vice-President of Design, who had then just joined the company as Head of Exterior Design. He takes up the story: “I had arrived a few months earlier, and at that time Opel was producing cars which were well put-together and well-engineered. I was asked what I thought, and I said they appealed to the head, but they were missing the heart. The Insignia Concept was really about how you get the best of both.”
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- Insignia Concept, sketches: With sensual materials, sharp detailing…
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- … and sculptured shapes, the Insignia Concept was a bold statement of the way forward for Opel Design. It was a vision of what a future top-of-line model from Opel could look like, and a significant departure from the orthodoxy of conventional “three-box” sedan design. It was five years before the Insignia production car was launched as a mold-breaking design. With its arrival, Opel formally announced the adoption of Adams’s design philosophy. It was to be the way forward, a theme to characterize and underpin the design of all Opels.
In diesem Jahr feiert Opel ein ganz besonderes Jubiläum: Im Juni 1964, also vor genau 50 Jahren, eröffnete Opel in Rüsselsheim sein neues „Styling“-Studio. Damit war Opel der erste Hersteller in Europa mit einer modernen Design-Organisation und der Pionier für Automobildesign außerhalb der USA. Gebäude, Mitarbeiterstruktur und Entwicklungsabläufe waren an das hochmoderne Designstudio von GM in Detroit, Michigan, angelehnt – zu jener Zeit das weltweit größte seiner Art.
Rüsselsheim avanciert zur Talentschmiede
Kurze Zeit später war Opel auch der erste europäische Hersteller, der eine Fahrzeugstudie entwarf und der Weltöffentlichkeit präsentierte: Der Experimental GT feierte auf der IAA 1965 Weltpremiere. Bereits in den 1960er Jahren mauserte sich das Opel-Designstudio in Rüsselsheim zur Talentschmiede. Viele internationale Designer entwickelten und vervollkommneten hier ihr Können. So war das Opel-Design schon in frühen Jahren offen für internationale Einflüsse. Das erklärt, weshalb viele der Opel-Designlegenden visionäre, innovative und wegweisende Formen und Technologien zeigten, die in den vergangenen 50 Jahren die Automobilbranche nachhaltig beeinflusst haben.
Wirkliche Design-Philosophie: nachhaltig und dauerhaft
Opel war und ist eine innovative, emotionale und starke deutsche Marke. „Auch wenn wir gerade erst vor wenigen Jahren mit dem Insignia unsere Philosophie ‹Skulpturales Design trifft deutsche Präzision› offiziell eingeführt haben, so hätte diese Beschreibung ebenso perfekt auch schon auf frühere Epochen zugetroffen“, sagt Marc Adams, Opel-Designchef und Vice President Design GM Europe. Adams: „Der Insignia war unser erstes Auto aus aktueller Fertigung, das diese Werte in sich trug. Und trotzdem kann man sich leicht vorstellen, wie Autos auch im Jahr 2060 dieser Philosophie folgen und dabei stets zeitgemäß sind. Viele Wettbewerber hatten und haben zwar ihre eigene Designsprache, aber häufig ist diese nicht von Dauer. Nach unserem Verständnis ist eine wirkliche Design-Philosophie etwas Nachhaltiges und Dauerhaftes. Sie kann lange Jahre Bestand haben. Aus diesem Grund schauen wir nicht nur stolz auf unsere Geschichte zurück, sondern freuen uns auf 50 weitere Jahre voller Innovationen.“
In den frühen 1960er Jahren war GM Styling die größte und leistungsstärkste automobile Designabteilung weltweit. 1956 nahmen die 1.200 Design-Beschäftigten in dem von Eero Saarinen entworfenen, komplett neuen Technical Center von GM in Warren bei Detroit ihre Arbeit auf. Von der Schlagkraft und den umfangreichen Fachkenntnissen GMs profitierte auch Opel entscheidend.
Die neue Design-Organisation von Opel und die hochmodernen Design-Räumlichkeiten, die 1964 im Gebäude N10 eröffneten, nahmen direkte Anleihen am GM-Design in Detroit. Die neue Aufstellung hob die Opel-Kreativabteilung auf eine völlig andere Ebene und machte die Marke zum führenden Wettbewerber in Sachen Automobildesign in Europa.