Vauxhall J82 Sports Hatch concept

It’s amusing to look back in time at the fact that the Vauxhall Design Department, especially under Wayne Cherry, had an almost obsessive compulsive disorder fixation with the idea of the “Sports Hatch”. This had first manifested itself with hatchback prototypes of the Viva HB, continued with the one off HP Firenza Estate and the subsequent limited run of the HC Magnum Estate based 2300 Sports Hatch, even the early Chevette prototypes were badged as Sports Hatch by the Design Department. The HD Viva based Concept 1 and U Car based Concept 2 eventually led to the production version of the Cavalier MK1 Sportshatch and, even years after the closure of the Luton Studios, the 2005 Vauxhall Astra H 3 Door was badged Sport Hatch in the UK. Until now that was considered to be the whole story, however there is a previously unknown missing link. In another world 1st for vauxpedia, revealed here for the first time is the FWD J Car based 3 Door Sports Hatch Concept from 1978.

The General Motors J car was a world car programme which brought together all of the company’s major design centres – Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and eventually Cadillac in the US with Chevrolet acting as lead division, GM Brazil (Chevrolet) for Latin America, Isuzu in Japan, Holden in Australia (and New Zealand) & in Europe (and South Africa) Opel taking major design responsibility and Vauxhall designing their own specific front, rear & interior variations. Vauxhall had a far greater input into the European J Car than they are given credit for, the car was essentially designed specifically to meet the demands of the UK fleet market and therefore boost Vauxhalls market share & profitability, it is also the reason that at launch the UK Cavalier specification was better than the equivalent Opel Ascona C. The Cavalier MK1 had proven it was possible to beat Ford at their own game, the one missing ingredient was a proper Estate version which never got produced but for the MK2 it was planned from the start in co-operation with Holden, surprisingly it was not a good seller in the UK and was never offered in Europe.

Vauxhall also had another niche product idea up their sleeve based on the standard J Car platform - a proper 3 Door sporty Hatchback to compliment the more practical 5 Door Hatch & 4 Door Saloon. Design work started in June 1978 with Wayne Cherry, John Taylor & Geoff Lawson heading the project, by October a full size mock-up had been built with two variations of rear deck & window design. The familiar Vauxhall Droop Snoot front end style had been taken to the limit and the design would have included no less than six pop up headlights all mounted in one unit spanning the front width of the car. Unusually, and probably due to cost & time constraints the Concept used plastic wheels and tyres. The front style has distinct Pontiac overtones and may have been the inspiration for the Pontiac J2000 as well as the 3 Door Hatch variations of the J Car in the US and Latin America. The Vauxhall Sports Hatch Concept was also advanced in that the font & rear bumpers were integral with the body design which featured plastic cladding on the lower half of the bodywork. At the rear, the bumper was embossed with the Vauxhall name whilst the Sports Hatch badge was discreetly displayed at the bottom of the rear window line.