After releasing some conceptual art a couple weeks ago, the public got its first chance to get a “taste of the future” from Opel in person at the Geneva auto show. GM bills the Flextreme GT/E as giving customers the ability “to enjoy zero CO2 driving emissions Opel-style “while illustrating that size doesn’t matter.”
As reported earlier at GM-Volt.com, the Flextreme GT/E is based on the same Voltec powertrain, featuring the same 16 kWh battery pack, 1.4l 4-cyl engine for extended range driving as the Volt, but with a slightly larger electric drive unit, rated at 120 kW. This is were the similarities end.
Seeing it in person, the Flextreme GT/E is big. Really big. In fact it is 4762mm long, (almost a foot longer than the Volt) and its wheelbase is over 114 inches, thats Cadillac STS territory, and it is just as wide. Like the Volt, and despite its size, the Flextreme seats four.
In the US, this E-REV would be classed at the very top end of the large family/mid-sized car segment, but in Europe, (where it would be theoretically sold) most cars in this segment are much smaller, it would certainly be classed as a full-size or large car. (The Volt at 4,500mm is right on the cusp of being a mid-size in the US…one mm less, and it is a compact).
But what of the range and spec forecasts? Since announcing the GT/E, another GM EREV (Cadillac Converj) was cancelled, and part of that reason was that range would have be halved due to the performance requirements and additional amenities, therefore you would expect a projected electric range on this car to be not dissimilar, maybe even less. (both use the same electric drive unit)
Not so. And here is where the line between concept and reality gets blurred. GM claims this car has the same 40 mile electric range as the Volt, can sprint from 0-60 in the 8 second-ish range, and of can go faster than 200 km/hr…all the while rolling on 195mm, 21″ tires. Yet the Converj could only go 20?
Working from what we know from the Volt, these performance specifications seem highly unlikely. The only place where the Flextreme has it over the Volt is the drag coefficient, which is a sparse .22 (which is helped by some very conceptual vertical fins that pop out when the car is travelling over 30mph to extend the tail). Side note: It also has no side mirrors…those pesky things are always messing up the drag.
For its part, Opel suggests the new concept “expresses its mission of offering accessible German engineering,” and is the “logical next step in Opel’s unfolding strategy for the electrification of the automobile”
From looking at the design and spec, logically I would say the first buyer of the Flextreme GT/E would come from the planned ‘mega city’ of San Angeles in the year 2032…and the glove box may or may not contain 3 mysterious seashells with instructions for people of that time on how to use them.














