Opel concept 'ahead of its time'

German carmaker Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, will unveil its Concept M car at the Geneva motor show next month.

The monocab design follows the recent trend of providing more headroom than is traditional with small cars. The Concept M is 1620mm tall and offers space and comfort for four occupants, says Opel.

The car is powered by a new engine concept - a 1.6-litre, 110kW natural gas turbo engine mated to a manual/automatic transmission called Easytronic.

Opel says the 200-km/h concept vehicle is also well ahead of its time as far as the interior is concerned, offering plenty of potential for innovative seating and stowage solutions. In this respect, says the carmaker, Concept M has similarities with the Zafira people-mover and is also a direct successor to pioneering Opel concept cars like the Frogster and Signum2.

The Concept M is 4050mm long, 1780mm wide and bears some of the styling cues of the Signum2 with other design features from the all-new Vectra GTS - expected to go on sale in Europe in June.

The Concept M's four individual seats are sporty but with plenty of shoulder room, says Opel.

In addition to the luggage compartment, the console in the roof (with an integrated DVD system) and the centre console provide extra storage space.