New Car: Opel Crossland X

Opel launched the Crossland X B-sector CUV at an event in Berlin last night. The more urban counterpart to the Mokka X, it’s 2WD only and its main attributes are its high-riding seating position and roomy interior: it’s more a mini-MPV pretending to be an SUV. Its proportions are certainly more MPV: the Crossland X is 16cm shorter than an Astra at 4.2m, yet 10cm taller.

Two-tone paintwork with a contrast-colour ‘floating’ roof gives it a modern feel, and a resemblance to the Adam; similarly, it has a chrome-highlighted window line. Opel is calling its latest design philosophy ‘sculptural artistry meets German precision’ and its Russelsheim studio has emphasised the grille with the ‘Opel Blitz’: this has two chrome winglets which point to the corners of the LED DRLs and headlights with adaptive forward lighting, supported by strong horizontal lines in the grille. Vauxhall-brand versions for the UK will, of course, get the griffin badge instead.

A silver lower front section of the front fender gives the impression of under-body protection, and side body cladding plays to the SUV theme. The rear again shows SUV cues, with high-mounted tail lights and again, silver under-body protection. The high waistline slopes upward to the rear, with the flanks sculpted below, giving a more solid-looking stance over the front wheels.

The chrome-highlighted interior is horizontally-aligned to the driver, and is kitted out with a colour touchscreen (up to 8in) and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto-compatible infotainment. Wireless induction chargers for smartphones, a wi-fi hotspot, the OnStar ‘concierge service’, front- and rear-view cameras, parking assist and a head-up display are available.

Trunk space is 410 litres without folding rear seats, and the 60:40 split rear seats can slide back and forward by up to 150mm to increase legroom or luggage capacity: 520 litres in the seats’ foremost position, and then up to 1255 litres with the seats folded. It’s a roomier, more versatile package than the Mokka X.

While its styling is rather predictable, the Crossland X is an easily-identified member of the Opel family despite sharing its underpinnings and mechanicals with the Peugeot 2008: it has a very different character to that model, and indeed, to its other competitors in this sector, namely the Nissan Juke, Toyota CH-R and Renault Captur. It also shows the move away from traditional MPVs to vehicles with a more crossover-type feel, even in the smallest sector.