Название: Opel Insignia
Дебют: автосалон во Франкфурте, 2003 год
Спецификация: задний привод, 349-сильный двигатель V8, 7-ступенчатый автомат, гидропневматическая подвеска
Почему мы вспомнили о нём сегодня:
Упакованный в авангардный кузов, концепт-кар Insignia с двигателем V8 от Corvette и задним приводом был одним из самых необычных прототипов «Опеля». А являясь предвестником новых моделей немецкой марки, он оказался куда эффектнее одноимённого серийного автомобиля, вышедшего спустя 5 лет после его дебюта.
Свой шоу-кар немцы явили миру в то время, когда дилеры Opel уже во всю продавали «Вектру» и более крупный Signum. Обе эти модели были сняты с производства в 2008 году, аккурат к выходу серийной «Инсигнии», которую анонсировали за год до этого спортивным прототипом GTC. Но одноимённый концепт-кар был куда интереснее, чем машина, поступившая в конечном счёте в продажу. Его отличал авангардный дизайн кузова с задними дверями, открывающимися посредством механизма, напоминающего пантограф. Чтобы открыть передние двери водитель должен был нажать кнопку на ручке. При этом задние сдвигались автоматически, облегчая доступ внутрь кабины.

Переднюю часть концепта украшала солидная фальшрадиаторная решётка, выточенная из цельной алюминиевой заготовки. По бокам от неё располагались трёхуровневые светодиодные фары головной оптики, которые могли впечатлить кого угодно 16 лет назад. При создании этого прототипа инженеры Opel использовали в общей сложности 405 светодиодов. Они были установлены в фарах, задних фонарях, противотуманках и в плафонах освещения роскошного интерьера. Концепт Insignia был технологическим прорывом того времени. Даже дверь его багажника поднималась по нажатию соответствующей кнопки вместе с задним стеклом посредством скрытых под обшивкой салона электромоторов.


Неудивительно, что со своей полностью прозрачной панорамной крышей, огромными 21-дюймовыми колёсами, четырьмя выпускным патрубками и отсутствующими центральными стойками этот концепт произвёл фурор на автосалоне во Франкфурте в 2003 году. С технической точки зрения, он очень сильно отличался от одноимённой серийной модели, выпущенной в 2008-м. Opel фактически использовал в своём прототипе заднеприводную платформу, позаимствованную у Holden Commodore, а также установил на него двигатель LS1 V8 от Corvette мощностью 349 сил, состыкованный с 7-ступенчатой автоматической коробкой передач. Отдачи американского силового агрегата было достаточно, чтобы концепт Insignia разгонялся до 100 км/ч менее, чем за 6 с и мог развивать максимальные 250 км/ч.


Кроме того, инженеры Opel оснастили концепт-кар гидропневматической подвеской, обеспечивающей невероятно плавную и комфортную езду, какой способен похвастать большой седан премиум-класса. И чтобы ощущение роскоши не покидало вас внутри автомобиля, ребята из Рюссельхайма на совесть поработали над интерьером прототипа. Тут вам и приятная обивка из табачно-коричневой кожи, и контрастная бирюзовая декоративная прострочка, и вставки из тёмного дерева, и изобилие глянцевых поверхностей. В то же время отделка матовым алюминием в некоторых частях салона, светодиодная подсветка и встроенный DVD-плеер со складным экраном придали внутреннему убранству оттенок хай-тека.



Одной из интересных особенностей концепта Insignia была возможность превратить салон из пятиместного в четырёхместный, убрав с помощью электропривода центральное заднее сиденье в пол багажника. В такой конфигурации салона сидящим раздельно двум задним пассажирам были доступны различные блага из высокого центрального тоннеля. Например, мини-холодильник, в котором можно хранить две бутылки шампанского. А встроенный хьюмидор для хранения сигар и вовсе превращал концепт Insignia в подобие настоящего лимузина.
Галерея: 2003 Opel Insignia concept
Ambassador of Brand Confidence: The New Opel Insignia
- Progressively styled design study with dynamic coupé lines
- Driver-oriented concept car with variable rear seat space
- Innovative doors, tailgate and lights
Rüsselsheim. Opel will present the Insignia, an automotive vision of the future and a design study with a new formal concept, for the first time at the Frankfurt International Motor Show (September 13 to 21, 2003). In addition to its progressive, elegant and dynamic design, the Insignia features numerous innovations including extensive use of LED lighting technology and unique pantograph-action doors and tailgate.
Further highlights include the versatile interior layout and excellent driving dynamics. Says Opel's Chairman and Managing Director, Carl-Peter Forster: "The Insignia is not an expensive luxury car but an ambassador of Opel's new confidence. It emphasizes our message of the past few months, that 'Opel is back', and it also demonstrates the innovative ideas we come up with when we think about a 'big Opel'."
Premiere: New Opel design language in large format for first time
With its well-balanced proportions and its progressive, elegant and dynamic lines, "the Insignia shows how Opel's new design language translates to a large sized car for the very first time," explains Opel's Executive Director of Design, Martin Smith. "With its many creative ideas, this study is a vision reaching far into the future, showing how Opel defines such a new concept."
Discreet chrome frames accentuate the clear, elegant window graphics with no disturbing B-pillars. The design of the large 21-inch aluminum wheels, satin-finished with polished elements, echoes the body's styling cues and provides an eye-catching finale to the Insignia's silhouette.
The door handles are flush with the body and therefore a nearly invisible element in the side outline. They are activated automatically, but only when the Insignia's owner approaches the car. The "Open & Start" transponder system, installed in the new Astra for the first time on a production model, identifies the owner by means of coded, theft-secure, radio remote-control that replaces the conventional car key. At the touch of a button, the rear window and tailgate are opened or closed by electric motors. A button hidden away in the door handle provides yet another "open Sesame" experience. If it is pressed after the front doors have been unlocked, the rear doors slide backwards smoothly, suspended on an innovative pantograph, as if moved by an invisible hand.
The Insignia's rear end is also a study formal harmony: Clear accents are provided by a chrome strip and two twin exhaust tailpipes integrated into the bumper. The large, V-shaped, three-dimensionally tapering tailgate dominates this view of the car and conceals plenty of exceptionally variable space underneath. According to the VDA standard test method, the trunk capacity is 410 liters when the Insignia is being driven as a four- or five-seater. Folding the complete rear seat forward yields an absolutely level surface with up to 970 liters of load-carrying capacity.
In harmony: High-tech and craftsmanship in the interior
The Insignia comes in even more guises. Continuing the long tradition of innovative interiors at Opel, for instance the Zafira's Flex7 system with fully retractable third-row seats or the multiple configurations of the Meriva and Signum FlexSpace concepts, the Insignia features yet another new idea: The section of the center tunnel that separates the two individual rear seats can be moved back under the trunk-floor to reveal a folded seat that can be raised electrically to make the Insignia a five-seater. The tunnel, covered with fine leather with exclusive Macassar ebony wood inlays conceals even more secrets: The designers have integrated a DVD player with folding screen, a cool-box large enough for two bottles of champagne and a humidor for storing fine cigars.
Despite these luxury accessories in the rear, there's never a doubt in the Insignia as to who's in charge: The cockpit, with its three-dimensional instruments and control satellites for the most important functions made of satin-finished and polished aluminum, is perfectly matched to the driver's needs so he or she can concentrate on the essentials.
All secondary control panels such as the infotainment system or the air-conditioning are hidden away under ingenious sliding covers in the center console. As Stefan Lamm explains: "The high standards we set are evident in even the smallest detail."
This becomes clear everywhere in the interior, including the instruments. The classic round shapes have been re-interpreted progressively using high-tech materials. Thanks to the reversed layout – the dials are positioned in front of the needles – the numerals are not hidden as the needle moves past them. This is made possible by the use of transparent dials that are easy to read in any light conditions, thanks to the use of modern light-emitting diodes (LED).
Light source: 405 diodes replace conventional bulbs
The styling tension between state-of-the-art technology and classic craftsmanship is one of the most exciting features of the Insignia's interior. Finest tobacco-brown leather contrasts with turquoise decorative seams and inlays made of dark Macassar ebony wood, with dark-brown, high-gloss lacquer surfaces combined with satin-finished aluminum. All this is illuminated in stylish, indirect blue and green light emitted mysteriously by diodes located in invisible slots in the doors and ceiling.
The Opel Insignia demonstrates how light will be generated in future cars, but not only in the interior: Deflected in various directions by prisms, it comes from no fewer than 405 light emitting diodes in the headlamps, rear lights, fog lights, brake lights, instruments and the car's interior. They open up entirely new opportunities in car design, since they last for practically the car's life-time and take up very little space. Headlamps and other lights can be made smaller and there is no need to provide for bulb replacement. The compact LEDs become quite hot though, so that efficient cooling is one of the main tasks for the developers of future lighting systems.
Parallel sliding action: Pantographs for the doors and tailgate
The future potential of the pantograph mounting and lever principle used for the two rear doors is also obvious. With its help, even large doors can be opened in small parking spaces or garages. Like a sliding door but without the sliding rails, the doors move parallel to the body rather than swinging outwards.
Because of their advantages, pantograph hinges with two pivot points have often been tried in automobiles, but this is the first time that the door has been successfully realized without multiple levers and without destroying the harmonious styling.
This is how the dictionary explains the mechanism: "Pantograph – an instrument ... consisting of four ...bars jointed in parallelogram form." Now that the Insignia has appeared, this definition will have to be re-written, as the Opel's engineers in the team led by Gerhard Mathes, have succeeded in designing a sophisticated but simple mechanism inside the pantograph support arm. When the door is closed, the aluminum support lever disappears elegantly into the door trim. "The kinematics of the Insignia's rear doors will puzzle many observers," says Mathes with a smile. How it works will, for the time being, remain Opel's secret, as Hans H. Demant, Executive Director, Engineering, is positive that "the pantograph has revolutionary potential".
Observers can also study the advantages of the pantograph system at the rear of the Insignia, even though this is a conventional design, with articulated parallelograms. Both the large tailgate and its rear window can be opened parallel to the roof by remote control, which means that they can open even if the car has been reversed up to a wall – especially since they open with the aid of electric motors. A total of 45 electric motors are installed on the concept car. They not only open and close the doors at the touch of a button, for example, but also move the seats forward automatically to make access to the rear easier.
Power pack: Rear-wheel drive and V8 engine
Opel's engineers chose an all-new GM rear-wheel drive architecture being developed for future global products as the basis for the Insignia's dynamic concept. With double wishbones and coil springs at the front and a five-link axle at the rear (decoupled for refinement), the Insignia delivers exemplary cornering behavior and high directional stability. Hydraulic load-leveling control compensates for changes in payload. In line with the dynamic character, the Insignia is powered by the Corvette's 344-hp aluminum V8 engine, which gives it a maximum speed of 250 km/h (electronically controlled), with acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in under six seconds.