Presented Opel GT X Experimental

Opel's new French owners wasted no time in making their mark on the company with the introduction of the GT X Experimental, which showcases the brand's future design direction.

When GM properties (and Holden's sister brands) Opel and Vauxhall were acquired last year by the PSA Group (owners of Peugeot and Citroen), the new owners promised nine new models by 2020 and unveiled a plan to expand the brands to 20 new territories. by 2022.

And the GT X Experimental, branded in the UK by Vauxhall, will be the face of this expansion; an all-electric coupe-style SUV that promises autonomy, technology and a new design direction.

“Vauxhall is clearly not a prestige brand or a “me too” brand. But we make great cars and people buy them for their value, affordability, ingenuity and progressiveness,” says Vauxhall group managing director Stephen Norman.

"The GT X Experimental captures these reasons to buy, amplifies them, and creates a clear template for design elements in Vauxhall's production cars of the future."

Before we get into the technical details, let's take a closer look at some of the cooler design details. The doors, for example, open in opposite directions, meaning the rear doors are hinged at the rear of the car and swing open a full 90 degrees.

The windshield and sunroof also form a single piece of glass that extends to the rear of the car. These alloy wheels are something of an optical illusion, they look like 20" alloy wheels when they are actually only 17" wheels.

You'll notice that there are no door handles, no side mirrors, and even the rear view mirror has been cut away, with rear vision instead provided by two body-mounted cameras.

And yes, some of them are unlikely to ever become production cars, but here are two new design elements that Vauxhall says will appear on all future cars.

The first is what the brand calls "Compass". See how the LED headlights connect to a vertical line running through the middle of the hood, forming a cross like a compass needle? Then there is the "Visor"; a one-piece plexiglass module that spans the width of the front, which houses the lights, DRLs, and a host of cameras and sensors needed for autonomy.

While platform details remain scarce, the brand says the GT X Experimental is based on a "lightweight architecture" and measures 4.06m long and 1.83m wide.

The Full-EV GT X uses a 50 kWh lithium-ion battery and offers inductive charging. Opel says the GT X is equipped with Level 3 autonomy, which turns the driver into an emergency offering, with human intervention only required if an accident is imminent.