Opel recently welcomed us to their test track in Dudenhofen to show off 120 years of Opel history. We were introduced to the story of Opel lighting, all the way from the lamps on the 1899 Lutzmann, to the 1930’s Admiral, the Kadett Rally, the 1963 GT, the Calibra from the 90’s and right up to today’s Insignia, Astra, Grandland X headlight technologies. Finally, with the introduction of their latest Corsa, Opel have taken Intellilux systems a step further.
We were shown Opel’s classic car collection and even got to drive them, which was absolutely magnificent! With an intoxicating smell of old engines and fumes we took to the track to drive through history.
On Opel’s private test track, we were given the opportunity to experience first hand what it was like to drive in the dark for the past 120 years. The difference between each generation in lighting technology was like driving through time.
We tested the cars on a range of different surfaces to see how intelligent lighting widened the drivers view, without blinding oncoming traffic and self leveled and adjusted to varying road conditions. The difference in visibility was extraordinary between the years. It was like going from watching a cathode ray tubes, to watching modern day HD images projected on multi billion pixel screens.
It all started with the Paraffin lamp in 1909. In the 60’s 12 v R2 electric bulbs were developed and on into the 70’s with H3 Halogen high beam lights were developed.
And so the development continued, from bi xenon up to the Intellilux LED matrix system, Opel have continually innovated the lighting technology with their latest models.
In 1982 the H4 Halogen bulbs were released on the Corsa. And since the Corsa first launched, there have been 13.5 million units sold all over the world.
Now in 2019 we will see the latest Corsa with all new IntelliLux LED® matrix lighting technology developed by Opel, added to a long line of historic lighting technology moments.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VwN3UZzCvI&w=560&h=315]