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These are the first
official images of the new, British-built Vauxhall Astra, which will
debut as a five-door hatchback at this September’s Frankfurt Show and
will appear in UK showrooms at the end of the year.
Marking the sixth
generation of Astra in 30 years, the new car’s design team was led by
Mark Adams, the British designer responsible for last year’s European
Car of the Year-winning Vauxhall Insignia.
With its strong,
cab-forward silhouette, steeply-raked windscreen and sloping rear
roofline, the new Astra makes ingenious use of many of the design
features found in the Insignia, but in a fresh and innovative way. Also
like the Insignia, it has spent over 600 hours in the wind tunnel,
benefiting performance, economy and overall refinement.
“We’re continuing
with the same premium design cues as the Insignia, inside and out of the
car,” said Adams, Vice President of GM Europe Design. “However, the main
design themes, like the wing-shaped light signatures and the blade,
needed an individual execution to avoid ‘cloning’ the model ranges. This
is why, for instance, you see twin wings in the rear lights and a
reversed blade on its flanks.”
Enhancing the
Astra’s dynamic performance still further is the option of Vauxhall’s
clever FlexRide system, a rarity in this sector which offers drivers
three unique damper settings – standard, sport and tour – while being
fully adaptive to changes in driving style and cornering speed.
Pictures of the new
Astra’s interior will be released soon, but in the meantime expect
similar strides in quality to those found in the Insignia, combined with
big improvements in packaging, seat design and in-cabin storage. Mark
Adams’ unique wrap-round dash treatment will also appear in the Astra,
but with a different take on that found in the Insignia.
Unique in this
sector will be the Astra’s optional, latest generation AFL (Adaptive
Forward Lighting), which features bi-xenon lighting that changes its
intensity and reach to suit prevailing road conditions. A similar
system was introduced on the Insignia, and is now recognised as one of
the most advanced systems available.
The highlight of
the new Astra’s powertrain line-up is the introduction of an all-new,
140PS turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol unit, which builds on Vauxhall’s
commitment to engine downsizing and reduced emissions/fuel consumption,
while retaining the performance of a larger capacity vehicle. The 1.4T
joins three further petrol engines, which range from 100PS to 180PS, and
four diesel engines ranging from 95PS to 160PS. All engines are Euro 5
compliant.
 “The
only part of the Astra which isn’t new is its name,” said Andy Gilson,
Vauxhall’s Marketing Director.
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