Currently reading: Vauxhall GT could get rear-wheel drive system adapted from Mokka SUV

The manufacturer is considering putting the concept into production with an adapted version of the SUV's drivetrain

Vauxhall-Opel engineers are looking at adapting the all-wheel drive componentry from the Mokka crossover to make the handsome GT coupé concept a production reality.

The proportions of the compact two-seater are built around a rear-drive powertrain, but parent company GM has no suitable ready-made platform in its global portfolio. “It is true we have no rear-drive platform,” Opel boss KarlThomas Neumann told Autocar, “but engineering is looking at a solution. There are possibilities.”

Vauxhall GT - full details

Sources said the rear differential and suspension from the Mokka could be adapted for the GT. The search is also on for a suitable compact gearbox that can channel drive from an in-line mounted engine to the Mokka rear diff. Other key aspects of the GT have already taken into account a production future.

Vauxhall-Opel design chief Mark Adams has chosen production-feasible dimensions, ensuring details such as bumper heights, vision lines and myriad legal requirements are fulfilled by the design. The production future of the GT has also been boosted by the Astra’s Car of the Year win, which has lifted confidence at the car maker.

However, sources also caution that the business case for the investment in a compact coupé has yet to be clearly established, although work on that project is continuing.

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LP in Brighton 22 March 2016

Mokka underpinnings?

Would probably make sense from a cost standpoint - and it's possible that the rear differential doesn't have the torque capacity needed for a rear wheel drive only set up. But it would be a shame if Opel is forced this way because much of the concept's appeal lies with its simplicity and low weight.
Old Nick 22 March 2016

Sources said ...

"Sources said the rear differential and suspension from the Mokka could be adapted ..." How do you get from that to it having AWD? They are looking at using (some) parts that already exist in another model to, possibly, get the GT into production. Hence the comment about looking for a gearbox. If it were to be AWD, they would just rebuild it around Mokka underpinnings.
MG Writer 22 March 2016

Sources said....

.... I think this is just clumsy headline writing. The body of the article text doesn't really hint at a sports car sitting on pure Mokka 4WD underpinnings, just using bits of that hardware. A 4WD miniature sports car would be daft, not least because of the weight penalties and the unnecessary handling implications.
MG Writer 22 March 2016

Even more justification for a link to SAIC

This great little car badly needs to become reality. But even GM alone may find it hard to justify. But if you add in an MG body variant then the potential sky rockets. Use it as a way to co-develop low volume high tech production that both partners could benefit from. Maybe set up a new factory to co-build Opel, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, MG variants to include US sales - with enormous kudos for SAIC in getting "their" brand back on sale there, as a stepping stone to future MG SUVs and so on, the next step on from importing Buicks from an SAIC-GM factory. In a climate where Chinese car makers are having to look at the mature western markets as their traditional export markets stutter. It seems brain numbingly obvious..