17.4.2019 Rüsselsheim. 21. April 1989: exactly 30 years Ago, Opel announced that the first German automotive manufacturer in the future, all passenger Car models with Three-way catalysts.
The entire range of Corsa and Kadett on the Vectra and Omega up to the Senator to be clean. Or as the former Opel boss Louis R. Hughes at a press conference in Bonn, said: “Opel is the first car manufacturer to equip its complete model portfolio, by default, with the most environmentally friendly technology – from the compact class up to the limo.”
But Opel goes even further, according to the Motto “do what no one expects you to”. In order to make the customer the purchase of such a sustainable automobile even easier, reduces the enterprise the same time, for many models, prices.
Then, as now, Opel responsibility to prove to the environment: Currently, all of the current Opel passenger Cars already meet the stringent requirements of the Euro-6d-TEMP-exhaust-gas standard. In addition, the manufacturer accelerated the electrification of its portfolio, the Grand country X as the first Plug-in Hybrid from Opel, and the all-electric battery version of the next Corsa-Generation of holes, two other important models in the start. This year, both Stromer will be available. And up to the year 2024 Opel wants to offer in Europe, from any Car model, an electrified version.
Content
- One for all: Three-way catalyst of Corsa to Senator
- Own responsibly: Opel investment in environmental protection
- Environmental initiative for all: No more costs for models with catalyst
One for all: Three-way catalyst of Corsa to Senator
Flashback: 20.451 vehicles Opel ranks in March 1988, at the peak of new registrations of cars with Three-way catalytic Converter, in Germany. Until the end of the year, there are about 208,000 Cars. The number is decreasing after the introduction of the Vectra in the spring of 1989 at a rapid pace. Finally, Opel offers the Vectra from the beginning, equipped with a Three-way cat.
For Opel was a logical step, all Cars in the future with this technique. The rüsselsheim engineers to see the Three-way catalytic Converter as the most effective solution to reduce emissions on a large scale. While a conventional Two-way cat, only about 50 per cent, and a lean burn engine to weed out 60 percent of the pollutant emissions, the Three-way catalytic Converter 90 percent. And in the case of the reduction of nitrogen oxides, it surpasses the result of even more percentage points.
The Corsa is a 1989 44 kW/60 HP, 1.3-Liter injection engine, the smallest Opel model with Three-way catalytic Converter. In the compact class, the 1.3-litre Kadett has the advanced technology. In the middle class, the Vectra drives up not only with the 55 kW/75 HP strong 1.6-Liter entry-level unit with Three-way cat, but also with a powerful two litre engine and 85 kW/115 HP.
The same applies to the Opel Omega in the upper middle class. He is so in connection with the 85 kW/115 HP two-liter engine equipped with a Three-way cat. The former Top model, and Opel’s flagship, the Senator is equipped with the three-litre in-line six-cylinder available, the promises depending on the choice of 115 kW/156 HP and 130 kW/177 HP of power. But the Foundation to this wide-ranging Environmental concerns, Opel has been around five years earlier.
Own responsibly: Opel investment in environmental protection
In the early 1980s, the discussion of the forest takes to the in Germany. The so-called acid is considered rain as a major cause of the arising, in turn, by the emission of nitrogen oxides. Thus, the traffic and the industry come under criticism.
Opel is aware of its responsibility towards the environment-aware and act: The company is investing in the mid-1980s, more than a billion D-Mark in the development of catalysts. Hundreds of engineers are engaged with the topic. Alone, 100 million D-Mark to flow in new test rigs and testing equipment, the duration will test the durability and the load due to high exhaust gas temperatures. Among the new facilities, including a 13-story, hermetically shielded “Soak Tower”. More than 130 vehicles, can be prepared in this building at the same time for the exhaust gas test. Before the actual Tests, certain Standards must be achieved, the comparability of the results is necessary.
In the first years most of the used in Europe catalysts are U.S. modifications. The changes at the beginning of 1985 Opel Ascona 1.8 i: With its launch, Opel is the first German manufacturer to create a model on the market, which has a specifically for Europe-developed catalyst. The first so-equipped Ascona goes to the Rhineland-Palatinate state police.
Environmental initiative for all: No more costs for models with catalyst
In the course of this environmental offensive Opel already presented in the autumn of the same year, the first European small cars with Three-way catalyst: the Corsa 1.3 i. 1986 Opel offers for the customer the new Omega without any additional cost for the catalyst. So at the Start of a Senator in 1987 and Vectra in 1988, the manufacturer does not require a surcharge for the cat. In addition, all the Opel models are equipped as standard with Three-way catalyst on active carbon filter-chambers, the field from the Tank escaping gaseous hydrocarbons-so series.
Further information on official fuel consumption and the official specific CO2 emissions and power consumption of new passenger can be taken from the cars to the “guide on the fuel economy, CO2-emissions and power consumption of new passenger cars”, at all sales outlets and at DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Helmuth-Hirth-Straße 1, D-73760 Ostfildern is available for free.
Opel Insignia Grand Sport (Photo: Opel Automobile GmbH)
