Opel debuts Astra Notchback Sedan in Turkey

[Flybrian]

20.10.2006

Opel is backing up new Astra sedan

Link to Full Article & Commentary @ Autoblog

Istanbul. Opel is back into the compact sedan market. And it backed up its new entry, the Astra Sedan, at its world premiere at the Istanbul motor show yesterday with two company firsts: General Motors has never before premiered a new car in Turkey. And it never before drove it on stage in reverse. Friedhelm Engler, chief designer compact cars at General Motors Design Europe, said climbing out of the back seat of the Astra: "We are back in the market of compact sedans with the new Astra. And its back is what it's all about. It gives ample space for the luggage of a family of five and shows the versatility of the Astra architecture." Standing back to back to the new car, Engler also explained: "Using the longer wheelbase Astra Caravan as base, the new Astra Sedan also has lots of legroom in the back, as I just experienced."

The Astra sedan will be produced in Gliwice, Poland, an ideal location to serve the Central and Eastern European markets for which the car has been primarily developed. The new model features a range of two gasoline and two diesel engines with output between 90 and 140 hp, and will go on sale in autumn 2007.

Notchback sedans are highly sought after in these strong, thriving markets. 67 percent of Turkish customers who purchase a compact class car, for example, choose a notchback model. In Russia, this figure is 65 percent and in Poland and South-East Europe the total is around 15 percent.

The new four-door sedan matches the special needs of Central and Eastern European customers while retaining the characteristics of the current successful Astra range.

The new model's designers adopted the long wheelbase from the station wagon (2703 mm) for generous space in the rear and a large luggage compartment (500 liters).

Click the Autoblog link above for more...revealing photos

[FAPTurbo]

With the car backing in and all those scantily clad dancers, I bet it'll take 2 posts before someone makes a "Junk in the Trunk" comment...

[thegriffon]

You just did

[C.H.U.D.]

They absolutely refuse to show the face...I'm suprised it's not wearing a Burka.

[Satty]

Was it unveiled in Istanbul or Constantinople?

[79VetteZ06]

Was it unveiled in Istanbul or Constantinople?

212584[/snapback]

UMM Both

[LutzNutz]

  Was it unveiled in Istanbul or Constantinople?

That's nobody's business but the Turks.

[thegriffon]

Istanbul is just a mangled form of Constantinopolis, just as Qandahar is a mangled form of Alexander, center of an originally Greek bhuddist kingdom also known as Gandhara, not in modern India, but Pakistan and Afghanistan. Such was its influence on Bhuddist thought that the Greek chiton is the standard habit of monks and sadhus throughout Asia. In western Asia and Africa "Alexander" was altered to fit Arabic expectations, re-analyzed into "Al Iskandar". Thus Alexandria becomes Al Iskandariyah, and Alexander in Turkey becomes Iskenderun.

[ZL-1]

They absolutely refuse to show the face...I'm suprised it's not wearing a Burka.

212583[/snapback]

Regular Astra face grafted onto the Chevy Vectra is my guess. It's like a woman who got a boob job: you're not going to look at her face anyway...

*edited for spelling error*

Edited November 6, 2006 by ZL-1

[FAPTurbo]

Regular Astra face grafted onto the Chevy Vectra is my guess. It's like a woman who got a boob job: you're not goint to look at her face anyway...

212691[/snapback]

[mjdecker]

Not a really clear image but you can tell it has the regular Astra hatch's front on it

http://www.trend.az/?mod=shownews&news=31071&lang=en

[MyerShift]

I can't wait till we get this!

And, I just discovered this on my own, but why is the Chevrolet Vectra the Astra sedan while the Opel Vectra is the Epsilon?

That's so confusing!!!

[Flybrian]

More views

[DetroitNut90]

I like it, but the center stack really could use a lift upwards IMO.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Why do they always refuse to show the real front end on the damn thing? Is there a big surprise there we don't know about?

Edited November 19, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[ToniCipriani]

Pics here:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm/newsi...an-more-details

I really don't know what they are doing in the last pic.

Edited November 19, 2006 by ToniCipriani

[thegriffon]

I can't wait till we get this!

And, I just discovered this on my own, but why is the Chevrolet Vectra the Astra sedan while the Opel Vectra is the Epsilon?

That's so confusing!!!

215096[/snapback]

GM do Brasil had responsibily for developing the new Astra sedan (A3310), but since they needed a replacement for the Chevrolet Vectra that would be cheaper than the new European model they used the extended wheelbase of the of the new Astra wagon and Zafira MPV to create a sedan that would be larger than the European Vectra in almost every dimension (the next Opel Vectra currently in development is longer and wider), if not as sophisticated. Since the new A3300 Astra uses the same platform as the old T3000 Astra already built in Brasil the addition of the new sedan would be much cheaper than the Epsilon sedan.

Additional photos of the European Astra sedan (incuding the revised interior of the 2007 Astra), as well as larger photos of the Chevrolet Vectra posted above can be found on my AutoReport site (no hotlinking though).

[thegriffon]

Why do they always refuse to show the real front end on the damn thing? Is there a big surprise there we don't know about?

217412[/snapback]

Probably more that they didn't want to show the revised face of the new 2007 Astra (also on AutoReport) until now. Edited November 19, 2006 by thegriffon

[MyerShift]

GM do Brasil had responsibily for developing the new Astra sedan (A3310), but since they needed a replacement for the Chevrolet Vectra that would be cheaper than the new European model they used the extended wheelbase of the of the new Astra wagon and Zafira MPV to create a sedan that would be larger than the European Vectra in almost every dimension (the next Opel Vectra currently in development is longer and wider), if not as sophisticated. Since the new A3300 Astra uses the same platform as the old T3000 Astra already built in Brasil the addition of the new sedan would be much cheaper than the Epsilon sedan.

Additional photos of the European Astra sedan (incuding the revised interior of the 2007 Astra), as well as larger photos of the Chevrolet Vectra posted above can be found on my AutoReport site (no hotlinking though).

217450[/snapback]

Oh, I see. I was just wondering, as this Chevrolet Vectra has the same styling as the Opel Astra sedan that was recently unveiled, but possesses the same interior styling as the technically larger (midsize) Vectra of Europe.

[thegriffon]

No, the interior from the A3310 Chevrolet Vectra is also from the A3300 Astra. The European Astra sedan just gets the updated 2007 CY changes common to the European Astra, which is why the revised nose and interior weren't shown before. It won't be long before the European Vectra moves to Epsilon 2, in which the standard wheelbase platform (unlikely to be used in NA) is longer and wider than at present.