Opel\u2019s new Meriva is not simply a successor model. The original Meriva was a low-key project with unknown potential, almost a try-out in the European small minivan segment, and earmarked to serve the Brazilian market as well. It was co-developed with Opel in Germany and GM do Brasil, based on a hybrid platform architecture which made use of Corsa and Astra subsystems.<\/p>\n
But the Meriva worked. It became segment leader in Europe, mostly by virtue of its flexible rear seating, and notwithstanding its less-than-inspiring design. So the design brief for the new Meriva was almost obvious: create a car with even more flexible functionality, and add more flavour to its design. This is in short what the new car is all about.<\/p>\n
The Meriva sits on the larger Zafira platform which allowed both packaging engineers and designers a longer wheelbase (264 cm, = plus 1 cm), more interior width, as well as better forward visibility and eventually also larger wheels. Overall length grew by a full 17 cm to 422 cm, and width increased from 171.5 to 176 cm.<\/p>\n
The A-pillar is repositioned and set at a different angle. It is also of a reduced section and allows more forward-positioned front door-hinges for better window lowering geometry. This has all contributed to a better forward and sideways visibility, not least because the instrument cluster has been lowered by no less than 80 mm.<\/p>\n
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 181<\/strong><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>[images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201001_Opel_Meriva-300×235.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201002_Opel_Meriva-300×163.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201003_Opel_Meriva-300×163.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201001_Opel_Meriva-300×235.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201002_Opel_Meriva-300×163.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2104201003_Opel_Meriva-300×163.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-design-story-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 00:14:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}