50 years ago: Opel Genève Concept Sports Car Unveiled

• Bold, pure, unique: Concept car takes centre stage at the 1975 Geneva Motor Show
• Too good to be true: Breathtaking sports car study remains a dream
• Modern visionary: Opel Experimental paves the way for production models such as the new Opel Grandland in 2023

Bold, pure, visionary: This is how the Opel Experimental brand study presented itself to the public almost two years ago. Innovative concept vehicles that inspire have a long tradition at Opel. As early as 1975 – exactly 50 years ago – Opel showed its vision of a sports car study that is beguiling in every respect at the Geneva Motor Show. At the time, the Opel Genève became one of the main attractions at the Swiss trade fair with its distinctly flat silhouette. With the Genève, Opel’s design department once again demonstrated its visionary skills, which it had already established ten years earlier with the Experimental GT. While this was quickly transferred to series production and many of the elements of the Opel Experimental are brought to life in the new Opel Grandland, the Opel Genève remained a dream that many sports car enthusiasts celebrate to this day.

Slim study: Harmonious Genève design awakens emotions

Opel knew how to stage the Genève at the 1975 Geneva Motor Show. And rightly so, because the harmonious show car exuded pure sportiness with its slim shape, powerful front and elegantly tapering downwards roofline. A truly ‘golden’ appearance, after all, the study was painted in exactly this colour. The Automobil Revue wrote at the time: "The light-footed, elegant coupé rotates on an elevated turntable, thus serving as an eye-catcher for visitors. (…) The front and rear are tapered with integrated bumpers. All window surfaces, including the side ones, are strongly curved." This was made possible by the fact that the ‘Opel Advanced Design Team’ around Erhard Schnell formed the Opel Genève out of fiberglass and was thus able to give it a styling that subsequently attracted admiring glances not only at the Motor Show.

Despite its popularity, the two-seater with its pop-up headlights typical of Opel concept cars at the time, would never go into series production. To understand this decision, however, it is necessary to look back to the beginning of the 1970s, because the Opel Genève was originally planned as the GT-W. Under this working title, the coupé with its incomparable proportions was designed in Rüsselsheim in 1972. The small and flat mid-engined two-seater was to be powered by a two-rotor rotary ‘Wankel’ engine, which is why the original model designation was GT-W. But as a result of the oil crisis, the rotary piston engine project was stopped in 1974. Nevertheless, the beautiful Opel GT-W was allowed to live on – albeit modified and under the new name Opel Genève, chosen to match its first public appearance.

In addition, another Opel study caused a sensation in the same year: Opel had decided to unveil the futuristic GT2 at the 1975 IAA. This was designed in much greater detail, with functioning sliding doors, a fully designed interior and a functional drive train, and was intended to provide a vivid glimpse into future Opel developments.

While the GT2 was donated to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in May 1978, the Genève remained on display in the Opel design department for many years. It was repainted in 1977 and has dazzled in a bright orange since then. The concept car is now one of the highlights of the Opel Classic Collection.

When visionary dreams come true: The groundbreaking Opel Experimental

Almost 50 years after the Genève, the Opel Experimental shows how visions of the future can actually become reality. The study, which was presented for the first time at the IAA Mobility in 2023, has since provided clear guidance on the brand’s further developments and future mobility. This can be characterised by three core concepts:

• Detox: The Opel Experimental has a bold and pure design with a clear focus on the essentials.
• Modern German: It inspires with its impressive proportions, intelligent solutions, highly efficient use of space and state-of-the-art lighting technology, including the first illuminated Opel Blitz.
• Greenovation: It is fully electric and reduces the carbon footprint.

All this is ‘German Energy’, which makes every model with the Blitz unmistakably an Opel. And the result of this ‘German Energy’, visible as the latest production model, is the new Opel Grandland, designed and developed in Rüsselheim and built in Eisenach. The top-of-the-line SUV ‘made in Germany’ brings the spirit of the brand study to life and introduces many features into series production. This makes the ‘Golden Steering Wheel 2024’[1] winning Grandland a prime example of how the designers and engineers at Opel turn forward-looking automotive dreams into reality in a short time – and what an important part pioneering studies such as the Opel Experimental play in this.

^[1] AUTO BILD edition 46/2024 and BILD am SONNTAG edition 45/2024, category ‘Best car under €50,000’.