Opel's first plug-in hybrid SUV is not only one of the greenest models in the German automaker's range, the Grandland X is also its most powerful, delivering a combined 300 hp. The four-wheel drive version of SUV gets 200 hp from its 1.6-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine and the rest from the electric motors installed on each axle, putting the Grandland X far ahead of the 230 hp produced by the 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine in the GSi version of the Opel Insignia sedan.
The low-emissions Grandland X is part of Opel's plan to reduce its fleet CO2 emissions by offering battery-powered or plug-in hybrid variants of every new model by 2024. The family already includes the recently launched Corsa-e full-electric small car.
The Grandland X is built at Opel's plant in Eisenach, Germany, using parent PSA Group's EMP2 platform for compact and midsize vehicles. The SUV is nearly identical mechanically to the Peugeot 3008, DS 7 Crossback and Citroen C5 Aircross plug-in hybrids, all of which are also new to the market in 2020.
The Grandland X plug-in hybrid also has a front-wheel drive version with a maximum combined power of 224 hp. Both the fwd and 4wd variants have an electric motor on the front axle. The rear wheels on the 4wd versions are also driven by an e-motor, an arrangement that eliminates the need for a driveshaft between the front and the rear.
This electric 4wd system layout was first launched in 2011 by PSA on HYbrid4 versions of models from Peugeot and DS. Adding 4wd to the Grandland X plug-in hybrid increases the price by about 5,500 euros in Germany. Although the 4wd variant weights 65 kg more than its fwd sibling (1,875 kg vs. 1,810 kg), its CO2 emissions of 29 to 32 grams per kilometer are expected to be marginally lower than the fwd version, which was still being calibrated at press time.
"The advantage of the 4wd version is that the rear motor also contributes toward recuperating energy [for the battery]," said Thomas Overhaus, Opel's program director for low-emissions vehicles.
The Grandland X's 13.2-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, which is housed below the rear seats, provides up to 59 km of electric drive, according to WLTP. "Our research shows that 80 percent of our customers have a weekday round trip drive of about 50 km, all of which could be done in full-electric mode with the Grandland X plug-in hybrid," said Julian Kloka, Opel's manager of sales development in its low-emissions vehicles unit.
With the e-Save mode, drivers can reserve a certain amount of battery capacity to ensure that the Grandland X has enough full-electric range when it enters a zero-emissions zone such as a city center.
IHS Markit forecasts that the Grandland X plug-in hybrid will account for a quarter of the SUV family's total production, about 34,000 units, this year.
Opel increased European sales of the Grandland X by 22 percent to 91,506 units in 2019, according to JATO Dynamics.