Thursday 31 January 2013

!NEW! Opel Cascada - First of its kind

  • First mid-size convertible engineered and built by Opel
  • Opel exclusive mid-size convertibles popular in the 60s

Heading to the top of Opel’s line-up, the Cascada is a mid-size convertible not only by size (length: 4.70 m) but also by its allure and the premium technologies and features it offers. With its elongated, elegant silhouette and streamlined soft-top, the Opel Cascada – due to debut in early March at the Geneva Motor Show – relates to the timeless tradition of classic convertibles. But it’s the first of its kind for Opel: this is the first time in 70 years that Opel has developed a mid-size convertible and will produce it in its own facilities.

The most popular convertibles from Opel in the last decades were affordable compact Kadett and Astra models – from the 1976 Kadett C Aero and 1987 E Cabrio up to three generations of Astra between 1993 and 2010.

With the ambitious Cascada, Opel actually relates in a new, refreshing way and with the best of modern technologies to an older and somewhat exclusive tradition of four-seat soft-top convertibles from the fifties and sixties like the Kapitän and the Rekord.

1953 Opel Kapitän convertible

1964 Opel Rekord A convertible

However, most of these bigger convertibles were not built by Opel, but converted and sold in very limited quantities by specialized German coachbuilders such as Autenrieth or Karl Deutsch. Outsourcing convertible production was a common practice at the time.

1967 Opel Rekord C convertible by Karl Deutsch
In the mid-80s, Opel’s dealer Keinath, based in Dettingen, started building a convertible conversion of the Monza coupé. Fairly similar to the Cascada today, the Opel Monza KC 5 convertible was just about 4.70 meters long, sat four persons and could feature quite a luxurious leather interior.

1985 Opel Monza KC 5 convertible
More currently, the Kadett E Cabrio and two Astra Cabrio generations were also produced externally by the Italian coachbuilder Carozzeria Bertone.

A mid-size convertible, the new Opel Cascada is in territory otherwise exclusive to premium manufacturers. True to Opel values, it offers open-air elegance, standard premium chassis, safety and soft-top technologies as well as a new generation powertrain at a much more attractive price than any other mid-size convertible.

2013 Opel Cascada soft-top convertible

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