Opel Adam gets three-cylinder turbo; next Holden Astra set to follow
A new 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine will debut in the Opel Adam at the Geneva motor show next month, the company has confirmed, as "the first in a completely new family of small displacement gasoline engines that will grow further over the next years."
Announced last year, the engine itself produces either 66kW or 85kW of power and 166Nm of torque from 1800-4700rpm, but Opel has now revealed the 37kg engine in the Adam will claim 4.3L/100km in combined cycle tests, or 99g/km of Co2 emissions in lower-power guise. A six-speed manual will be the only transmission available, and stop-start technology will be standard.
Crowned the next step in Opel’s "powertrain offensive", three new engine families and 13 new engines will be introduced until 2016, along with several new transmissions including a new eight-speed automatic.
With the 1.0-litre set to replace the existing 1.6- and possible 1.8-litre non-turbo four-cylinder engines in the Opel range, and a 300Nm 1.6-litre turbo having already debuted, it is a almost a certainty that both new-generation 1.2- and 1.4-litre turbocharged engines will appear in the new generation Opel Astra set to debut later this year, to match the same-capacity Ford EcoBoost engine in the Focus.
Sources have confirmed Holden will switch back to importing European Opel-based products for next generation models. With the next generation Cruze having been spied close to production, it appears the current model built at Holden's Elizabeth manufacturing facility will unlikely be built until the planned 2017 factory closure.
The next generation Opel Astra and Chevrolet Cruze will be closely-twinned cars built off the same GM Delta II platform. Spy shots of the next Cruze (below) show sharp, angular headlights that almost exactly mimic that of the Opel Monza concept car shown at the Frankfurt motor show in September - a car insiders say closely previewed the styling of the next generation Astra.
As the spy pics show, a prominent Chevrolet grille will appear between the headlights of the Cruze sedan version, while a grille and bumper pinched from the Monza (below) will likely adorn the Astra hatchback.
Given their similarities, and given it is unlikely Opel will build a sedan version of the Astra except for in the US where it will be badged Buick Verna, Holden may choose to decide to import both Cruze sedan and Astra hatchback.
Either way, their similarities will almost certainly extend to the powertrains offered.
The Astra hatchback and Cruze sedan will almost certainly replace their current 1.6-litre four-cylinder engines with the Adam's new 1.0-litre turbo. Whether the engine arrives here is unknown, although the 1.0-litre makes only 18kW/10Nm less than the ancient 1.8-litre Ecotec in the current Cruze, which will be pensioned off.
Holden otherwise have to wait until the existing 103kW/200Nm 1.4-litre turbo in the Cruze is replaced by the new generation version of the same-capacity or 1.2-litre capacity, although Opel will likely have both readied for the new Astra's planned 2015 introduction.
Holden continues to refuse to confirm the continuation of Cruze production locally until the Elizabeth plant's closure in 2017, nor confirm a next generation Cruze will be imported.
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