Vauxhall Tigra
The Vauxhall Tigra is a sports car created by Opel – the General Motors Corporation subsidiary – based on its Corsa supermini. This car was first released as a two-door coupe in 1994 and was in production until 2000. After a break of four years, it was reintroduced in 2004 as the Tigra Twin Top, a two-seater coupé convertible with a retractable hardtop.
Tigra Mk I (1994-2000)
The Tigra was widely based on the same name concept car, built on the platform of the Opel Corsa's second generation. Although it shared the same platform, no body panels were similar, and the interior was also modified with a 2+2 seating arrangement. It was unveiled at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show and was available for sale shortly after in 1994.
Two petrol (gasoline) engines came with the car: the more affordable 1.4 litre with 90 PS (66 kW) and another pushing more power - the 1.6 litre, which produced 106 PS (78 kW) and was sourced from the Corsa GSi. They both ran on DOHC 16 valves and had electronic fuel injection. An optional 4-speed automatic transmission was included with the 1.4 litre engine.
Lotus tweaked the suspension of the car, but it was nonetheless overweight at 150 kg (330 lb) more than the equivalent Corsa model. It took 10.5 seconds to reach 0-60 mph with the 1.6 litre engine, one second slower than the Corsa. However, this was compensated for by a higher top speed of 203 km/h (126 mph), due to higher gear ratios, a lower drag coefficient of 0.31, and a standard 15" wheel on the more powerful engine.
The Vauxhall Tigra was also marketed in the UK by Chevrolet as the Chevrolet Tigra and in Brazil and Mexico the same way, respectively. The Brazilian version was slightly different: it was detuned to 99 PS (83 kW) for tax reasons and ran on 14" wheels instead of 15".
Tigra Twin Top (2004-present)
In 2004, the Tigra nameplate was resurrected for the Tigra Twin Top - a model of the Corsa C. This car was a two-seater coupé convertible, with a retractable hardtop similar to the Peugeot 206 CC.
Two petrol (gasoline) engine options were included: a 1.4 litre with 90 PS (66 kW) sourced from the Twinport family, and another from the Ecotec family, the 1.8 litre with 125 PS (92 kW) taken from the Corsa GSi. A Fiat Multijet 1.3 litre Diesel engine was also added to an economic version in 2005.
The second generation also saw the introduction of the Holden Tigra, exclusively for Australia and New Zealand with the 1.8 litre engine.
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