CarBrandLogos archive · Vauxhall · 2000

VauxhallVX220

An Elise built at Hethel, with a Vauxhall badge and a turbocharger.

Photo: Carsten Seehawer at de.wikipedia · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Vauxhall history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Vauxhall VX220, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Opel ECO Speedster with 1.3 CDTI-worldrecord-Diesel

Origins

General Motors wanted a halo car for Vauxhall and Opel and had no economic way to build one. Lotus needed volume through Hethel and a partner to fund the second-generation Elise. The VX220, announced in 2000, was the deal that satisfied both.

Opel ECO Speedster with 1.3 CDTI-worldrecord-Diesel · LSDSL · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The car used a bonded and extruded aluminium tub developed at Hethel, which subsequently underpinned the Series 2 Elise, with a composite body of Vauxhall's own design over it and General Motors engines behind the seats. Early cars used the 2.2-litre Ecotec four; from 2003 the 2.0-litre turbocharged Z20LET transformed it, giving the car serious pace in a package weighing not much over 900 kg. Suspension, steering and chassis tuning were Lotus's work, and it drove like it.

Vauxhall VX220 - Flickr - The Car Spy · The Car Spy · CC BY 2.0

In production

It was sold as the Opel Speedster in mainland Europe and built at Hethel alongside the Elise until 2005. Commercially it was a modest thing — a Vauxhall costing as much as a well-specified BMW was a difficult proposition in a Vauxhall showroom — but it did what a halo car should, and it remains one of the very few genuinely exotic vehicles ever to wear the griffin badge.

2004 Vauxhall VX220 Turbo 2.0 · Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Engine

2.0 L Family II engine#Z20LET

Body

2-door roadster

Technical specification

The VX220, in detail.

Production: July 17, 2000 – July 22, 2005
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door roadster
Layout: Transverse mid-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine: 2.0 L Family II engine#Z20LET; Z20LET Turbocharger; turbo Inline-four engine; I4 ; 2.2 L GM Ecotec engine#L61; Ecotec Z22SE I4
Transmission: 5-speed Getrag F23 manual
Designer: Niels Loeb and Martin Smith (designer); Martin Smith (exterior); Steven Crijns (interior)
Assembly: United Kingdom: Hethel, Norfolk, England
Manufacturer: Opel/Vauxhall Motors; Vauxhall (General Motors); Lotus Cars; Lotus