FRANKFURT, Germany — General Motors Corp. plans to build a new worldwide family of mid- and full-size sedans and crossovers based on the underpinnings of the 344-horsepower Opel Insignia concept car it showed at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
The car uses a new architecture for cars that could be built on as many as four continents — North America, Europe, Asia and Australia — said GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. An architecture is a set of common parts and processes that can be used to produce a wide variety of vehicles.
Lutz would not say what GM calls the new architecture, referring to it simply as "a premium rear-wheel-drive architecture that will be used worldwide." It could form the basis for cars, for example, ranging in size from the Mercedes-Benz midsize sedan to the limousine-like Mercedes S-class, he said.
As many as four or five of GM’s brands could get V8-powered vehicles based on the architecture, he said, including Chevrolet, Pontiac, Opel/Vauxhall in Europe and Holden in Australia.
"It’s an example of what can be done when we look beyond geographic boundaries" of GM’s operations around the world, Lutz said.
The first cars based on the architecture are expected to go into production in North America in 2005 or 2006.
While the Opel Insignia concept car is about the size of GM’s Sigma architecture, which is the basis of the Cadillac CTS sedan and SRX crossover wagon, the new architecture was developed to cost less than those luxury cars, Lutz said.
"It could be used for Pontiacs or Chevrolets," he said, but it could include high-cost components like all-wheel drive, a six-speed automatic transmission and magnetic-rheological suspension" that quickly senses and reacts to changes in the road surface for premium cars such as the Opel concept.
Opel will decide whether to build a car like the Insignia by the end of the year, said Hans Demant, Opel chief engineer. Opel, based in Ruesselsheim a few miles south of Frankfurt, is GM’s main European unit and is responsible for engineering most cars GM sells outside North America.
The Insignia could give Opel a flagship model to help create a premium image for the brand, Demant said. Opel would probably only sell 30,000 to 50,000 such cars a year, too small a number to repay the investment of developing a new architecture, he said. The low volumes have kept Opel from developing a top rear-drive model to replace its aging Omega.
"We need to decide if we will build the Insignia soon," he said. "The idea will not stay fresh."
The concept car, which features an aluminum V8 engine producing 344 horsepower, "truly captures the Opel tradition of large luxury cars," Lutz said. The Insignia would accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (100 kilometers per hour) in less than 6 seconds and have a top speed of 155 mph.
The large and luxurious concept car features a striking exterior design with a long wheelbase and very short front and rear overhangs to create an extremely spacious interior that was trimmed in dark piano-lacquered wood, light-brown leather dashboard and doors and dark saddle leather seats.
The rear power doors slide backward, not unlike a minivan, but a cantilevered hinge eliminates exterior tracks for the doors, allowing for the car’s sweeping rear fenders, which extend up to a dramatically sloping rear window and tailgate.
The concept car seats four or five, depending on whether a center console is kept in the rear seat or moved into the trunk. The rear seats also fold flat to create a cargo area.
