THE opel is getting ready to reveal a new concept, and with it will come a whole new design philosophy for the German brand, marking the new era of its existence as part of Groupe PSA.
This change is part of the plan PACE! , announced by CEO Michael Lohscheller last November. According to Lohscheller, the PACE! it contemplates not only an “increase in profitability and efficiency”, but “it is a compass that shows the way to a sustainable and successful future for Opel”.
German, accessible and exciting
The new design philosophy will continue to be based on these three values, which Opel already associates with it. The new concept, to be presented later this year, foresees, therefore, how the Opels of the next decade will be.
To find this new path, towards the future, Opel revisited the past, having found in the Opel CD, a concept presented at the 1969 Frankfurt Motor Show — which appears side by side with the new concept — a reference to what it wants for its new design philosophy. The brand also refers to the most recent and acclaimed Opel GT Concept as a reference for the future.
Mark Adams, Vice President of Design at OpelOpel's 'design' stands out. It's emotional, sculptural and confident. We sum it up in one word: audacity. The second key aspect has to do with clarity, intuition and focus, which we embody in the term purity
These will be the two fundamental pillars of the future design philosophy: audacity and purity , values itself derived from the “German side” that Opel wants to highlight — based on traditional values such as “engineering excellence, technical innovation and high quality”.
Opel GT Concept, 2016
But as Adams puts it, “modern Germany is much more than that”, also mentioning the menschlich (human) attitude in which they are open to the world, open-minded and caring about people — their customers, “regardless where they are from and where they are, are what drives everything we do,” concludes Adams.
“Opel Compass”, the new face
The image disclosed shows the Opel CD and the new concept, still covered, but revealing the luminous signature and the “graphic” that will structure the brand's new face. Denominated "Opel Compass" or Opel Compass, characterized by the use of two axes — vertical and horizontal — that intersect the brand's logo.
The vertical axis will be represented by the longitudinal crease in the bonnet — an element already present in current Opels — but which will be “more salient and pure in its execution”. The horizontal axis is represented by the new luminous signature of the daytime running lights, which will include variations in future Opels.
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The sketches we see below reveal the same solution applied to Vauxhall, Opel's twin brand in the UK, which shows a little more of how this solution could work. The second sketch, on the other hand, still shows, in a rather abstract way, the general idea for the dashboard — what appears to be a screen occupying the entire width of the interior.
The sketch allows you to better understand how the optics and grid interact