Opel: Lightweight Body Applications Leverage Payload Advantage

HANOVER - September 25, 2008: At the 62nd International Automotive Show (IAA) for Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, Opel expands its comprehensive LCV range – Combo, Vivaro, Movano – with a number of new individual conversions and body applications. Alongside existing collaboration with renowned partners, Opel is pursuing further cooperation ventures with additional reputable partners. The ensuing expansion to the product range on offer successfully equips Opel to meet the growing demand for customer-specific transport solutions. The Rüsselsheim automaker presents its current portfolio over around 1500 square meters in Hall 12.

Opel focuses on three key issues at the IAA which address important trends in the commercial vehicle market: high payload, environmental compatibility and versatility. Opel benefits from the extremely favorable curb weight of the Movano and Vivaro with regard to payload. At almost 1.7 tonnes, the Movano has one of the best payloads in the 3.5-tonne class. Combined with a new, very lightweight box body from conversion partner Ehrhardt, the Movano achieves best values for transport company requirements. Opel is also showing a lightweight box body for beverage transport from Ewers in Hanover.

Opel scores points in terms of the environment with the Combo, which has just been awarded second place for the German Commercial Vehicle Prize. It is not only the natural gas version that achieves lowest CO2 emissions in its segment, at 133g/km. Both the 1.3 CDTI and 1.4 TWINPORT also display the best emission figures in their respective performance segments. Next year a version of the Vivaro Combi with a CO2 value of 199g/km will also be available

Focusing on flexibility, Opel shows not only its wide model portfolio with 12 Vivaro and 18 Movano variants, but also the growing spectrum of conversions and body applications with a wide variety of partners. Opel is presenting for the first time on its IAA stand a Vivaro with a refrigerator box from Kerstner and a Movano equipped as car transporter with a tipper undercarriage that can be loaded quickly and easily.

Consolidated Success in Europe
“The strengths of Opel commercial vehicles - payload, environmental compatibility and versatility - are also a big part of our steady success,” says Thomas Bauch, Director of European Commercial Vehicle Operations at Opel. “We are one of the most attractive commercial vehicle brands in Europe, also thanks to our extensive service network of around 6000 partners.” Just ten years after Opel re-entered the light commercial vehicle segment in 1998/99, the automaker has achieved a market share of 5.2 percent in Western and Central Europe this year so far. In the last four years alone, new registrations rose by almost 15 percent to over 177,000 units in 2007. In the first eight months of 2008, some 115,000 vehicles were registered - practically the same figure as over the equivalent period last year. Bauch sees further potential particularly in Eastern Europe. Therefore the Combo has just been introduced in Russia.