What's the news?
These are the first images of the Opel Crossland X, a car with which Opel will start carving the small SUV segment into ever thinner slices. Although it's virtually the same overall size as the recently-updated Mokka X, the Crossland has been designed to appeal more to townies and urban types, leaving more rugged people to fully exploit the Mokka's optional four-wheel drive and extra ride height. Essentially, it's the replacement for the Meriva, as Opel begins to move away from MPVs and more into SUVs.
Looking rather like an Opel Adam ran hard into the back of a Mokka, the Crossland has, says Opel, "a firm family focus, with a Tardis-like cabin providing high degrees of practicality and flexibility." It's 16cm shorter than an Opel Astra with seating set 10cm higher. There's a 410-litre boot that can be expanded by sliding the rear bench seat forward and Opel has focused on safety by fitting the Crossland with a 180-degree panoramic rear-view camera, advanced park assist, forward collision alert with autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, speed sign recognition and side blind-spot alert, among others.
Inside, the driver and passenger get seats certified by the German bad back association (the AGR) and there is flexible seating in the back, with 60/40 split rear seats and a 150mm slide if you want to expand the boot to up to 520 litres. Fold the seats flat and you can stuff in 1,255 litres. Those sliding seats are essentially the only MPV-esque carry-over from the Meriva.
Opel will be keen to get buyers to upgrade the Crossland X with high tech features, and among the available items are Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) with full-LED headlamps, a head up display, that 180-degree panoramic rear view camera, advanced parking assist, forward collision alert with autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, speed sign recognition, side blind-spot alert, cruise control with speed limiter, three-level driver drowsiness system, a heated steering wheel and heated windscreen and keyless open and start.
Anything else?
The new Opel Crossland X will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March and will go on sale in Ireland later in 2017.