Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
Opel is preparing to launch the third generation of the Meriva, a model that will be built on a platform developed with the French at PSA Peugeot-Citroen.
The all-new Meriva will lose its famous reverse-opening rear doors, also referred to as suicide doors. This fact had become evident when the first versions of the prototype were spotted on the road by our spy photographers.
The sighting of this mule in front of the Opel headquarters in its hometown, Russelsheim, only goes to show that the German brand made the previous prototypes without any confusion involved.
In the case of this particular exhibit, you can observe in the large photo gallery found on the right of this text that the car has production headlamps and tail lights.
Even if the lighting units are not going to make production in the form visible through the camouflage, it is evident that their shapes have been set, and the production model will follow the same general lines.
The front grille also appears to have a production-ready form, but it is significantly concealed by camouflage, as is the front bumper. The upcoming Meriva’s prototype also appears to have a raised ride height, but this might just be an optical illusion because of the black steel wheels contrasting with the black-and-white camouflage.
It is important to note that the visible gap between the tires and the wheel arches may appear because the body would also need room to fit larger alloy wheels for production models. The Renault Scenic, one of the competitors of the Meriva, comes with 20-inch alloy wheels as standard equipment.
It is worth remarking that the body of the prototype has a boxy look, and that the slightly raised ground clearance might be an attempt to turn the Meriva into a crossover.
General Motors had applied this strategy before with the Chevrolet Orlando, which looked like an SUV, but was an MPV all the way. The 2017 Meriva might be a smaller interpretation with a few twists.
The sighting of this mule in front of the Opel headquarters in its hometown, Russelsheim, only goes to show that the German brand made the previous prototypes without any confusion involved.
In the case of this particular exhibit, you can observe in the large photo gallery found on the right of this text that the car has production headlamps and tail lights.
Even if the lighting units are not going to make production in the form visible through the camouflage, it is evident that their shapes have been set, and the production model will follow the same general lines.
The front grille also appears to have a production-ready form, but it is significantly concealed by camouflage, as is the front bumper. The upcoming Meriva’s prototype also appears to have a raised ride height, but this might just be an optical illusion because of the black steel wheels contrasting with the black-and-white camouflage.
It is important to note that the visible gap between the tires and the wheel arches may appear because the body would also need room to fit larger alloy wheels for production models. The Renault Scenic, one of the competitors of the Meriva, comes with 20-inch alloy wheels as standard equipment.
It is worth remarking that the body of the prototype has a boxy look, and that the slightly raised ground clearance might be an attempt to turn the Meriva into a crossover.
General Motors had applied this strategy before with the Chevrolet Orlando, which looked like an SUV, but was an MPV all the way. The 2017 Meriva might be a smaller interpretation with a few twists.
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