Opel: Chief tests the next Mokka 🎥
NO PARDON Developers and test drivers are putting the finishing touches on the next-generation Opel Mokka. They are currently trimming acoustic comfort in the interior, driving safety up to top speed. When it is ready for series production, the Mokka will go into production at the end of the year. At the beginning of the year, the experts for chassis, powertrain, electronics and lighting braved the polar winter in Lapland [...]
Once it is ready for series production, the Mokka will go into production at the end of the year.
At the beginning of the year, the experts for chassis, powertrain, electronics and lighting took advantage of the polar winter in Lapland to tune the chassis and assistance systems on frozen lakes and glaciated roads in freezing cold.
And now they are trimming the new Mokka at the Rodgau-Dudenhofen Test Center in Hesse for acoustic comfort in the interior, driving safety up to top speed.
Less weight than the predecessor
The upcoming Opel Mokka generation is a completely new design and is based on the company's Multi-Energy platform. In vehicle development, this modular system offers maximum flexibility.
The system allows purely battery-electric drive, but also combustion engines. Thanks to the use of high-strength steels, weight is low and body stiffness high.
The new Mokka weighs up to 120 kilograms less than its predecessor - with virtually the same wheelbase and identical tire sizes.
Batteries deep in the vehicle floor
Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller: "In the electric Mokka-e, the batteries are located low in the vehicle floor, which lowers the center of gravity and at the same time increases rigidity by another 30 percent - both prerequisites for high driving dynamics."
No uncontrolled movements
The Mokka must not exhibit any uncontrolled body movements, for example when the vehicle drives over a strong bump at medium speed. The philosophy behind it: An Opel must be easy for anyone to control under all circumstances and at the same time offer driving pleasure, in the arctic-cold Arctic Circle as well as in high summer on the Mediterranean.
High Speed in Germany
Not far from Opel's headquarters in Rüsselsheim, all of Europe's treacherous road surfaces have been recreated. Here, the Mokka is put to the test in terms of rolling comfort and interior noise. The spring/damper tuning is fine-tuned again and again.
In the supreme discipline on the high-speed track with its steep curves and long test straights, it's all about stability at all speeds. In practice, this set-up brings an enormous gain in safety even in the event of unintentional evasive maneuvers in lower speed ranges.
Michael Lohscheller: "Only when our engineers return satisfied from the racetrack is there the Autobahn tested seal."
