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Opel Speedster


The Opel Speedster is a British built mid-engined, targa-topped, two seat sports car sold by the German automaker Opel, introduced in July 2000. It was built in both RHD and LHD versions, at the Lotus Cars plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1999.

It was sold as the Vauxhall VX220 in the United Kingdom and the Daewoo Speedster in the Asian market. The car shared much in common with the Lotus Elise, although Opel claimed few parts were interchangeable.

The turbo version was able to reach a top speed of 242 km/h (150 mph) and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds.

The car was hailed by the motoring press as a great drivers' car and won several accolades, including Top Gear's Car of the Year in 2003. The 2.2 NA (naturally aspirated) version was considered the easier drive of the two standard variants, and some journalists recommended that the Opel/Vauxhall car was better value for money than the Lotus (such as Jeremy Clarkson in his 2003 DVD Shoot Out).

Speedsters were displayed with the Daewoo badge, although only one was built to be used for marketing purposes. A final version, the track oriented Speedster, based on the turbo model, was tuned to give around 220 hp (164 kW; 223 PS) and used 16 in (406 mm) front wheels that allowed the fitting of smaller front tyres to give sharper handling.

Production ended in July 2005, with no direct successor. It was not until February 2007, when GM Europe adopted the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky into the Opel GT, that GM Europe had a replacement sector product, with no RHD version for the United Kingdom.

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