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SPY PICS: Opel Astra on hard road to tow
Euro-style GM small car set to deliver eco-friendly driveability Holden needs in post-2017 rangeDevelopment of Opel's small car, the Astra K, continues apace, as these spy pics indicate.
It's not the first time the next-gen Astra has been seen testing in camouflage, but in light of recent developments the volume-selling small car in the Opel range is all the more likely to make a return to the Australian market – badged as a Holden however.
Here at motoring.com.au we've long speculated that Astra could re-enter the Australian market in volume-selling form, not just in the higher performance variants. That prospect took another step forward with the announcement at the Paris motor show that Holden would source "more than one third" of its future product range from Opel. Given there's more profit in small cars than in light cars, Astra looks more likely than Corsa to don the Holden guernsey in Australia.
With the work Opel has undertaken so far, developing new, smaller-displacement Euro 6 engines and LPG for its smaller passenger car range, there's a lot of drivetrain technology Holden would presumably love to have, in order to take back sales dominance from Toyota's Corolla in the small car segment.
Opel is pulling out all stops to win back what it sees as its rightful share of the market in its German homeland. There's a major business development program in the works, but key to that is the new engine technology – with the promise of even more exotic drivetrain systems in the future – and weight reduction measures. Technology champions in Holden's product range would not only serve to match or beat retail rivals in the small-car segment, but could boost Holden's local brand image as well.
Holden has previously put paid to any talk of mainstream Astra models selling alongside the Cruze as a premium alternative, but with Cruze production ending in Australia from 2017 (and an Insignia-based car expected to replace Commodore), Astra would be a logical candidate to receive the baton, especially as a relatively fresh model with some life left in it.
And while Holden has said that Cruze will remain in production until 2017, it's not impossible that Holden will choose to end local production of the small car earlier, and import both the Cruze sedan and the Astra hatch as a complementary pair.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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