- by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan
GTC confirmed as 'very close' to next Astra
04 March 2003: GENEVA MOTOR SHOW The Opel GTC Geneve concept car which was unveiled this morning in Geneva is 'very close' to what the next 3-door Opel Astra will be like, it was confirmed to IrishCar.Com today by Opel Ireland's woman on the spot, Michaela Dennehy.
"The rear end will change a little, and there won't be as much overhead glass, but in terms of the design language, it is where Opel is going," she said. "The design is upfront and sporty, and I think it is going to appeal equally across the gender divide."
Though there is strong industry speculation that the real car will be shown at Frankfurt in December, Michaela said no confirmation of that had been communicated yet. However, firm dates have been set for the Irish availability of both the new Meriva mini-MPV and the Signum luxury car based on the Vectra platform.
The Meriva will be in the showroms here in April, and the the Signum will lag behind by about 6-8 weeks, probably in the showroms in June.
The GTC - Grand Turismo Concept - is technically a 3-door sport sedan, according to Opel, which also suggests that the next Astra is going to be aimed at appealing particularly to a younger buyership than its main competition has, in particular against VW's next Golf and the current Toyota Corolla, both of which have a rather older buyer profile.
It could completely alter the perception of GM design in Europe, and capitalise on the changing image projected by the Speedster and the Vectra GTS.
Here at Geneva today, though by no means the most way-out concept on view, the GTC Geneve is considered by many of the hard-bitten motor journalists as one of the stars of the show, if only because it is likely to go into production in a form very close to how we saw it.
©2003 irishcar.com