In a bid to help customers go for greener driving, United Automobile is offering bonuses to replace cars with new Opel models that have lower fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Clients who exchange any vehicle with a new Opel by May 15 will benefit from €500 on the Corsa range; €800 on Meriva, Astra GTC five-door hatch and four-door saloon; and €1,200 on Zafira and Astra Twin Top.
"Opel engineers have been working on new and innovative systems for all the ranges across the board to offer the same design, safety and quality the brand is renowned for, while improving technology for better respect of the environment without compromising performance and utility," Ryan Buttigieg, sales and marketing manager at United Automobile Limited, representatives for Opel in Malta.
"At UAL, we are now taking this one step further by offering incentives to customers to exchange their old with new Opels which offer improved fuel economy and reduced vehicle emissions. The initiative is valid irrespective of whether the owned car has any value, so long as it is in a reasonable condition," he added.
From saving fuel by making engines work smarter to smoothing transmission function for better performance and efficiency, Opel said it is using technology to improve the internal combustion engine while working towards the hydrogen future. The innovative Twinport technology with variable intake control and higher rates of exhaust gas recirculation is an example of progress in emission reduction.
New in the Meriva is the 1.4 Twinport with nearly 15 per cent better fuel efficiency. The newly developed 1.2 Twinport engine with 59 kW/80hp, premiered in the Corsa, is not only more powerful than its 75 hp 1.2-litre predecessor with conventional fuel-injection, it also boasts up to 12 per cent better fuel efficiency. The innovation was first introduced in the Astra 1.6 Twinport at the beginning of 2003.
The top fuel saver is the Corsa Eco which, with its 44 kW/60 hp 1.0 Twinport Ecotec engine, consumes only 4.6 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres (non-urban cycle) making this one of the world's most economical gasoline-powered European compact car in its class, the car maker said.
With recycling and end-of-product responsibility important items on anyone's environmental agenda, Opel's lifecycle thinking approach and initiatives, such as the oil-life system or lifecycle analysis studies, have also helped the company make informed decisions about materials, processes and implications for end-of-life disposal.