Opel Kadett A
| Opel Kadett A | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Opel (General Motors) |
| Production | 1962–1965 |
| Assembly | Bochum, Germany |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Small family car (C) |
| Body style |
2-door saloon 3-door Car-A-Van (estate) Coupé |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 993 cc Opel OHV OHV I4 |
| Transmission | 4-speed manual all-synchromesh |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,325 mm (91.5 in) |
| Length | 3,923 mm (154.4 in) or 3,990 mm (157 in) ("L" models featuring bumper overriders) |
| Width | 1,470 mm (58 in) 1,483 mm (58.4 in) (Car-A-Van) |
| Height | 1,410 mm (56 in) (saloon) 1,397 mm (55.0 in) (coupé) 1,800 mm (71 in) (Car-A-Van) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Opel Kadett I |
| Successor | Opel Kadett B |
The Opel Kadett was re-introduced by Opel in 1962, with deliveries beginning on 2 October, a little more than 22 years after the original model was discontinued in May 1940. Like the original Kadett, the new car (designated the "Kadett A") was a small family car, although it was now available in 2-door saloon, 3-door Car-A-Van (estate) and coupé versions.
In 1957 Opel Product Director Karl Stief was mandated by General Motors headquarters in Detroit to develop "the perfect Anti-Volkswagen" ("einen perfekten Anti-VW"). The development team was headed up by Stief, supported by Hans Mersheimer (car-body) and Werner K. Strobel (engine and running gear), under conditions of such secrecy that even now very little is known of the development history of the 1962 Kadett. It has been alleged that GM was trying to conceal a new technique of platform and design sharing between Opel and its British sister company Vauxhall, which released the strikingly similar Viva HA in 1963, a year after Opel introduced the Kadett. Over the subsequent two decades Opel and Vauxhall's ranges would rapidly converge as Vauxhall's design independence from Opel was eroded to the point where by 1985, Vauxhall's car range entirely consisted of rebadged Opel models.
Opel had been Germany's largest auto-producer in the 1930s, and in Wolfsburg the producers of the Kadett's principal target did not disguise their concern at the prospect of Opel's return to small car production. At the Volkswagen annual general meeting a few months before the launch of the Kadett, Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff (who himself had been a senior manager with Opel in the 1930s and 1940s) went on record with a warning to shareholders that Opel (along with Ford Germany) were backed by a level of financial muscle on a scale unimaginable to any German company, and that it seemed that the two American transplants were now determined to use their financial strength to make aggressive inroads into the German auto-market at any price.
...
Wikipedia