Vauxhall GT still on the cards

Vauxhall-Opel continues to plan the production of the rear-wheel-drive GT concept, unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March, and believes it has two more years to make a decision before the design loses its appeal.

Vauxhall-Opel chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann said: “It’s a car we all love and the public love, so we really want to build it. The question is what the right approach is, so we are studying different directions we could follow.”

The two main possibilities are to create a ‘parts bins’ rear-wheel drive platform or to borrow an off-the-shelf platform. A rear drive platform is essential if the GT is to retain the concept’s proportions in production. Neumann said: “The platform is a complication.”

However, Neumann appeared to rule out the chances of parent company General Motors (GM) creating a parts-bin platform.

“You can take parts and pieces, but it’s a matter of cost. If you do a lot of engineering on the platform, then you can’t do it,” he said.

The most likely solution is to team up with a partner to create a new rear drive platform.“Then you need something off the shelf,” Neumann said. GM’s Chinese partner, SAIC, which owns MG, has been cited as a possibility, but Neumann refused to comment.

Neumann is prepared to wait to find a solution rather than push it with GM’s top brass and risk getting the project canned.

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