As some of you may recall, last July Leftlane passed along word that Buick’s marketing chief said GM was giving “very strong consideration” to the thought of adding a coupe variant to the Regal lineup. The marketing chief, Rover McCormack, even went as far as to strongly hint at a convertible variant as well, meaning the coupe and convertible would likely share a new two-door format.
Since then there hasn’t been a peep out of Detroit about either car – and there still hasn’t been – but word out of General Motors Europe, according to AutoExpress, suggests it is still a strong possibility. To be more exact, the document AE claims to have “confirms” the resurrection of the Vauxhall Calibra coupe, based on the Insginia’s Epsilon II platform.
For those of you who follow GM closely, that likely rings a bell as the Epsilon II platform is the very platform that forms the basis for the Opel Insignia sedan from which the Buick Regal was derived. So while the document supposedly obtained by the European site does not specifically outline a Buick variant, it does make for a stronger case as it would help GM spread the development costs across multiple global markets.
In Europe, Opel sells an OPC variant of the Insignia which boasts a 2.8-liter turbocharged V6 good for 325 horsepower, mated to a six-speed manual transmission and equipped with a Haldex all-wheel drive system. When the Regal GS was born in the U.S. it was downgraded to a 255 horsepower, 295 lb-ft of torque, direct-injected, turbocharged 2.0-liter Ecotec engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission that distributes its power to the front wheels through the HiPerStrut system.
If the Regal Coupe and Convertible variants do make their way to the U.S., it is unclear if GM would go for a high-po turbo six like the European counterpart, or extend the use of the 2.0-liter turbo four. Whatever the case, any of these variants are likely two or more years away from market.
References
1.’New Calibra green…’ view
No comments:
Post a Comment