Opel Small Cars to Rock Geneva

Adam Opel, the Germany-based unit of General Motors, plans to reveal at next week’s Geneva auto show a rugged production version of its Adam small car, as well as a new- 3-cyl. gasoline engine bound for use around the globe and hints at the fastest street-legal Astra.

The Adam Rocks variant emulates other small cars with CUV-like attributes, such as the Mini Countryman and Fiat 500, with its electrically operated canvas roof, rugged bodyside cladding and ride height 0.6 ins. (15 mm) higher than the standard model.

Elements of the Adam Rocks chassis were modified or retuned to complement the design changes, and it receives 17-in. wheels as standard equipment and 18-in. wheels as optional. The regular Adam is fitted with 15-in. wheels as standard.

“It’s unique in combining the toughness of a crossover with the coolness of open-air driving,” Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann says in a statement ahead of the car’s public appearance on March 4, one year after it bowed in concept form at Geneva. It arrives at dealerships this summer.

Sales of the trendy, 3-door Opel Adam city car began early last year. The A-segment entry represents the first model in GM’s $5.2 billion investment into turning around struggling Opel. The outlay includes more than 20 other new products and 13 new powertrains for Opel and its U.K. sister brand Vauxhall through 2016.

Among those new powertrains from Opel is the 1.0L 3-cyl. gasoline engine and 6-speed manual gearbox bowing in the Adam Rocks. The engine, which uses direct-injection technology for extra power and efficiency, comes in output ranges of 90 hp and 115 hp. It will make up to 122 lb.-ft. (166 Nm) of torque at 1,800 rpm. Fuel consumption is as low as 55 mpg (4.3 L/100 km), according to Opel.

The engine features a single-scroll turbocharger, variable valve timing, a switchable water pump and integrated exhaust manifold. It also uses stop/start technology to save fuel and tops a range of three naturally aspirated 4-cyl. gasoline engines in the Adam line.

The 1.0L 3-cyl. engine is part of a new family of three small-displacement engines from GM that will see use globally under the Chevrolet brand. Later this month, GM will release details on the 1.4L and 1.5L engines. The engines combine three families into one and are expected to account for 2 million units by the end of the decade from manufacturing locations worldwide.

Opel says the new transmission in the Adam Rocks is notable for its compact design, low friction and quick, precise and smooth shifting.

Opel also displays at Geneva the Astra OPC Extreme, a derivative of the Astra OPC Cup racecar. Slated for a short production run and billed as the fastest street-legal Astra, the OPC Extreme uses a number of weight-reduction technologies, such as carbon-fiber components, to improve the performance metrics of the 280-hp Astra OPC launched in 2012.

The Astra Extreme sports Opel’s trademark gray racing paint.

[email protected]