SPY PICS: Opel Insignia OPC facelift

Just weeks out from Opel’s Australian launch our spies have captured these shots of a facelifted Insignia OPC sedan testing in Germany.

Chunkier rubber and stylish twin exhausts are clues to the fact this is something other than your cooking model Insignia. The OPC is the high-performance model in the Insignia lineup and is powered by a Holden-made turbocharged 2.8-litre V6. 

Features that distinguish the new-look car from the current model Insignia, which made its debut in autumn 2008, include a facelifted nose and revised grille design, intended to bring the car into line with the recent Corsa facelift. 

Other Opel models are likely to receive similar updates within the next few months, but it’s not yet known if the changes will make their way onto the first wave of Australian models launching here in September.

Opels have previously been sold in Australia badged as Holdens but from September the brand will be represented here in its own right. GM's German brand will launch here with three models, the Corsa, Astra and Insignia, but it’s not yet known if the high-performance OPC variants will be part of the lineup. 

The basic Insignia range is expected to be powered by a pair of 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines — a 162kW/350Nm turbo petrol, and a 118kW/350Nm turbodiesel — both mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Competing in the mid-sized car segment against the likes of the Honda Accord Euro, Mazda6, and Toyota Camry, Opel is expected to price the Insignia between the Accord Euro and VW Passat, meaning a low $30,000s starting price.

Interestingly, from next year the Insignia must also compete with Holden’s new Malibu (the Epica replacement), a Korean-made car with which the German-built Insignia shares its underpinnings.

-- with Carparazzi

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