AUTONEWS

Opel Frontera: the new B-segment SUV that brings price parity between vehicles with combustion engines and 100% electric vehicles

The Opel Frontera is Opel's new B-segment SUV, which replaces the Crossland and inherits the same base as the Citroën C3 Aircross, also from the Stellantis group. The main advantage of the new SUV, compared to its predecessor, is its ability to offer more modern mechanics adapted to the current reality of the European market, where demand is divided between electric versions and others equipped with combustion engines, preferably electrified to reduce consumption and emissions. Interestingly, this same Frontera that is sold in the United Kingdom under the Vauxhall badge (Opel's sister brand) is offered at the same price, whether equipped with a petrol hybrid or 100% electric mechanics. On Vauxhall's British website, the Frontera is available in two versions, the hybrid and the electric, both for £23,495, the equivalent of €27,935 at the current exchange rate. The Frontera Hybrid 1.2 Turbo is a mild hybrid (mHEV) that has as its main unit a 1.2-litre three-cylinder supercharged petrol engine, delivering 100 hp and 205 Nm of torque, with the small help of a 48V electric motor with 29 hp and 55 Nm, powered by a battery with just 0.43 kWh of usable capacity (0.89 total). This allows Opel/Vauxhall to reduce consumption from 6.2 l/100 km (like the C3 Aircross with the same 100 hp petrol engine, but without the electric assistance of the mHEV system) to 5.5 l/100 km for the Frontera, which corresponds to a reduction in emissions from 139 to 122 g of CO2/km.

The electric Frontera that Vauxhall uses for comparison with the mHEV alternative is the first version of the battery-powered SUV to reach the market, equipped with a 113 hp and 125 Nm engine, powered by a battery with a capacity of 44 kWh and LFP (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry. This accumulator accepts a charge of up to 100 kW in direct current (DC) and 11 kW in alternating current (AC), allowing the Frontera Electric to announce a range of 305 km according to the European WLTP method.

In Portugal there is no parity and…thank goodness…If in the United Kingdom there is price parity between the electric version and the one that uses a combustion engine, the same is not true in Portugal. This is because the Opel Frontera, which is already available on the brand's national website, offers the same mHEV version with 100 hp for €23,740, while the 100% electric version costs €28,740.

The Frontera Electric with 113 hp is currently the only exclusively battery-powered version offered in Portugal (the range will later be completed with a version equipped with a 54 kWh battery and a range of 400 km), and is sold for just €810 more than in England. The small difference is easily explained if we take into account that VAT in Portugal is 23%, 3% higher than in the UK. While there is no major difference in the price of the electric version in Portugal compared to the UK, Portuguese drivers have the advantage of paying substantially less for the mild hybrid option of the Frontera. While in the UK customers have to pay the equivalent of €27,930, here Portuguese drivers save €4,190, since the Frontera Hybrid 1.2 Turbo with 100 hp is offered for €23,740. While, on the one hand, it is good that the Frontera has achieved parity between the electric and combustion versions, for now in the UK, on ​​the other hand, it seems that this balance has been achieved at the cost of a higher price for the petrol hybrid version, for which Portuguese drivers can be grateful, especially those who are looking to purchase the most affordable version of this new SUV.

by Mundoquatrorodas