Opel to release battery-electric Grandland in 2024
The Opel Grandland will be succeeded by an electric model next year. The parent company Stellantis is investing €130 million in the German plant in Eisenach to prepare it for the production of the e-SUV based on the new STLA Medium EV platform.
The Grandland will henceforth be electric-only. Stellantis expects production of the new BEV to start in the second half of 2024.
The Opel Grandland currently produced in Eisenach includes plug-in hybrid variants, and the top model Grandland GSe also comes from Thuringia. The generation offered since 2017 is built on the EMP2 platform from Stellantis, or PSA at the time. With a length of 4.48 metres, the Grandland belongs to the mid-size class. Also based on the EMP2 are, for example, the Peugeot models 3008 and 5008, which are also to receive electric successors – as with the Opel based on the STLA Medium. Other EMP2 models, such as the Opel Astra and Peugeot 308 must (currently) make do with an electrified version of the mixed platform.
The planned production capacities or vehicle details have not yet been made public. Stellantis had promised ranges of up to 700 kilometres for the Peugeot e-3008, whose current generation is the same size as the Opel Grandland. Three electric powertrains are planned, including a four-wheel drive system with two motors, which we assume will also be likely for the related Opel model.
The STLA Medium is designed for vehicles in the C and D segments. The Grandland/e-3008 duo is in the C-segment, while the larger e-5008 model is more in the D-segment. Whether the Grandland and e-3008 will move far away from the current length of 4.48 metres is not yet clear. On an all-electric platform, the wheelbase will likely increase by ten to 20 centimetres from the current 2.68 metres.
“We have been building top-quality vehicles here in Thuringia for 31 years and improved our competitiveness continuously. We will stay on this clear path with the electric successor to the Opel Grandland,” says Florian Hüttl, Opel’s CEO. For Opel, this decision is “another important step on the way to the declared goal of being a purely electric brand in Europe by 2028“.
Stellantis itself outlined their strategic concept by saying that quality must go up and costs must come down. “Eisenach, our most compact plant in Germany, has demonstrated a strong drive in quality improvements,” says Arnaud Deboeuf, Stellantis’ chief manufacturing officer. “With this allocation of Stellantis’ new fully BEV platform, STLA Medium, Eisenach plant’s highly skilled workforce will continue to improve the cost and the quality of the vehicles they produce to delight our customers.”
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