January 7, 2002

Detroit Motor Show

Opel Frogster: Cool Ideas for Tomorrow's Drivers

Revolutionary "AUTOnomy" concept car premieres on GM stand

Detroit. Following its appearances in Frankfurt and Tokyo, the Opel Frogster concept car continues its world tour at the Detroit Motor Show (January 10 - 20, 2002). The Frogster is as green and fresh as the Opel Laubfrosch (Tree Frog) of the 1920s and it reinvents today's small car in a cool and provocative way.

The 3.7-meter concept car presents a host of fresh ideas for a future vehicle for the next generation of car buyers: Instead of a conventional convertible top, it features an electrically-powered roller cover at belt-line height to provide weather protection. It offers a choice of configurations: With four individually foldable seats, the driver can turn the Frogster into a one or two-seat roadster, three or four-seat convertible or a pick-up. When it is time to park, the cover slides forward—like a shutter—to close at the base of the windshield. In addition, this bright green quick-change artist features a special PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). The mini-computer serves as a radio-controlled "car key" and roller-cover operator. When inserted in the Frogster's center console, the PDA also becomes a display for the radio, navigation and climate-control systems.

Another future-oriented automotive attraction on the GM stand is the premier of the revolutionary "AUTOnomy" concept car. It is the world's first vehicle to be designed from the ground up around a fuel-cell propulsion system. In addition, it combines, for the first time, a fuel-cell system with drive-by-wire technology. AUTOnomy is further evidence of the continuous progress being made by GM and Opel at the Global Alternative Propulsion Center, their joint fuel-cell research unit with facilities in Germany and the USA.