GM teases lightweight, more sophisticated Astra
Eleventh-gen Euro Astra will weigh 120kg less and offer more space, but it's unlikely for Oz before 2018Just days after the current Astra GTC and turbocharged hot hatch VXR were relaunched as Holdens, GM is already teasing its replacement -- the 11th-generation Astra hatch.
Shown completely camouflaged in a video released late last night on social media, GM’s European boss Opel’s Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann explains how the new Astra will feature “an awesome design, highest efficiency and an abundance of innovation.”
Most of the headline weight savings have come from the new car’s smaller dimensions. Compared to the car it replaces the new Astra is 49mm shorter, 26mm lower with a wheelbase reduced by 23mm. Wheels, tyres and brakes have all been shrunken to save weight too.
There’s bad news for VXR fans. Other weight saving includes the ditching of GM’s HiPer strut front suspension that, on the current high-performance model, reduces torque steer.
The rest of the Astra range will come with front suspension attached to the chassis without bushes to increase chassis rigidity. At the rear the Astra retains its ‘flexible’ Watt’s linkage torsion bar instead of gaining its rival’s, like the VW Golf and Ford Focus’, more sophisticated multi-link set-ups.
Powering the next-generation range will be a range of smaller displacement petrol and diesels, including a revised version of the current 1.4-litre turbo petrol and a new 1.6-litre diesel.
More information will be revealed before the car is unveiled this September at the Frankfurt motor show.
The European Opel Astra is expected to make a full return to the Australian market badged as a Holden in 2018 -- once Holden stops producing the Cruze in 2017.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
