Baby's Got Back: Opel Astra Sedan goes public in Istanbul
Click to enlarge
The big deal about the new Opel Astra sedan we told you about earlier last month is that it does, in fact, have a full, traditional derriere (all the other Astras have hatches). The Astra With A Real Trunk made its formal debut Saturday at the Istanbul Motor show, and the whole presentation was about the car's butt. So much so that when the Astra Sedan was announced to those gathered around the Opel display, it backed onto the stage. You know, just in case people forgot what a trunk looks like. Ok, we kid. The fact is, that notchback body with trunk is the thing that sets the Astra sedan apart from its siblings, so why not lead with it?
Naturally, GM surrounded it with bikini-clad dancing girls, ensuring that all eyes in the room would be aimed in the car's direction even if they weren't necessarily analyzing the car.
The Astra Sedan will be produced in Poland and be sold primarily to the Eastern European market, where that traditional bodystyle is more popular than the hatches favored in other regions. I still believe that, given the American consumer's taste for sedans, we'll see this in some form here in the US after GM brings the Astra over to kick Saturn's current Ion to the curb.
(Press release, additional photos after the jump)
[Source: GM]
OPEL ASTRA SEDAN UNVEILING:
Click to enlarge
PRESS RELEASE:
The world's first reverse reveal
Opel is backing up new Astra sedan
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.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RZ 1:13PM (11/05/2006)
Here's my question, what is Astra? Is it not large family Sedan? So wouldn't it be in direct competition with Malibu and Impala? Also with Accord and Camry--and i don't think owners of Camry and Accord will swich to Astra.
So basically Astra will take market share from Malibu and Impala....plus it looks so plain.
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esem 1:31PM (11/05/2006)
astra is not a large family sedan, it's competitors are corolla, civic, golf (jetta), not camry or accord. just to know
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RZ is a Moron 1:49PM (11/05/2006)
Malibu and Impala are both Chevys...two Chevys taking marketshare from one another according to your question. Opels have a bigger following in Europe and Asia Minor than Chevrolet. I doubt there will be any love lost there.
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Tion 7:55PM (11/11/2006)
The Astra's Corolla/Civic/cobalt/focus sized smarts. The Aura is a thinly masked Vectra which is Opel's large car.
This is a very good marketing strategy for Saturn to turn into an American opel.
All they need to do is bring over the Zafira MPV and opel's VXR turbocharging line and i'll be a happy man.
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RZ is a Moron is a Moron 3:35PM (11/05/2006)
#3 i wrote what i wrote base on this "I still believe that, given the American consumer's taste for sedans, we'll see this in some form here in the US after GM brings the Astra over to kick Saturn's current Ion to the curb."----Read the article.
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PiCASSO 2:14PM (11/05/2006)
GM should release the 4-door sedan, 5-door hatch, and finally the 3-door coupe of the Astra here in North America and branded as the Saturn (as currently planned). That way, they will have vehicles to compete with:
Mazda3 sedan and hatch
Honda Civic sedan and coupe
Toyota sedan
Makes perfect sense to me to have all three (3) body styles, not just one or two.
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Jim in Tampa 2:13PM (11/05/2006)
Looks like the new Chrysler Sebring from the back.
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MarcioBR 2:34PM (11/05/2006)
This is the Brazilian Vectra
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Alex Nunez 2:20PM (11/05/2006)
RZ,
To use current GM models for comparison:
Astra = Cobalt
Aura = Malibu
Saturn's new positioning with the product revamp is upmarket of Chevy, though the redone Malibu, based on spy photos, should have mass appeal itself. There is no Saturn equal for the Impala, which is going RWD on its redesign anyway.
The Astra will give GM a killer hatchback, which is probably what we'll see first. But like I said, I fully expect to see the sedan version at some point as well. An Astra sedan wouldn't cannibalize Malibu sales because it's down one level, sizewise and only has 4-cylinder power. The Malibu, like the Aura, should get the new 3.6L DOHC V6 as the top engine.
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Wilhelmina J. Higginbotham 3:21PM (11/05/2006)
1. Here's my question, what is Astra? Is it not large family Sedan? So wouldn't it be in direct competition with Malibu and Impala? Also with Accord and Camry--and i don't think owners of Camry and Accord will swich to Astra.
So basically Astra will take market share from Malibu and Impala....plus it looks so plain.
Posted at 1:13PM on Nov 5th 2006 by RZ 0 stars
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And they don't switch because they know as little about cars as you do.
Go figure.
Do you even know what you buy every two years? Or have you set up an automatic debit with your Camcord dealer so that you drive whatever he puts you in from year to year?
I can just see it: he gives you a Camry and tells you to "drive this". You come in for service year after year and when the new Camry comes out he takes your old one and switches it for a new one in the same color (beige?).
Since you just get in and drive, without looking, you're none the wiser.
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Tom W 3:36PM (11/05/2006)
Hey Istanbul, welcome to Western culture!
Here's a taste of what you've been missing out on.
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RZ is a Moron is a Moron 3:43PM (11/05/2006)
#9 First of all i own a Civic LX, second of all i compared it to every car out there, no American car came in close as far as Quality goes NOT ONE. Secondly i like good fuel economy, third i like the way it feels inside, fourth it is loaded with airbags, price was good, and may i say my dark Blue Civic LX looks better and Sexier than anything offered by Chevy.
Also i like the CAR as a whole, i could not care less about HP, or tourque or RWD or AWD----i bough Civic because it is a GREAT car. Not too big, not too small, and offers me everything i want.
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SilverAero 4:32PM (11/05/2006)
That car has a pretty poor looking stance. man i hate it when they have to compensate for the car's shortcomings with hot girls
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PiCASSO 10:34PM (11/05/2006)
#12. #9 First:
The current 8th generation Honda Civic would be a great car, had it not been for the Starship Enterprise interior. Can't stand it.
When the Saturn Astra arrives next year, it, along with the VW Rabbit, Mazda3, or the next generation Corolla will be on my shopping list.
I will have to wait till the 9th generation Civic before stepping back in Honda's dealerships. Hopefully they will not mess things up again with some radical PSP2 instrument panel.
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Foetoid 3:56AM (11/06/2006)
We've had that car for YEARS in Australia. The Holden Astra come in sedan, hatch, wagon, convertible, turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel. It's quite popular down here, especially as a cheap convertible. I only wish Ford and GM were smart enough to being the Aussie lineup to the USA. Our cars here a fantastic, much better than the GM/Ford US offerings:
www.fpv.com.au or www.ford.com.au
www.hsv.com.au or www.holden.com.au
The former of the two sets is the 'high performance' versions of the latter sites. No matter what you look at though, it's all very sexy aussie built cars, and each of them should really hit US shores...
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penguen 7:18AM (11/06/2006)
#11 (Tom W)
I don't know where've you been but Turkish people have been there for the last 80 or so years and didn't miss out a thing. Could you please take it easy on confusing a country with muslim people with an Islamic Country already. And please do take a look at this thread about Istanbul, if you're really interested:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=406390
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DC_1 1:53PM (11/06/2006)
Looks dated already
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Murat likes Autoblog 10:44AM (11/06/2006)
Hey #11 (Tom W)
Ignorance is happiness.
Keep on livin' like this.
By the way,I was at the Istanbul Motor Show last weekend,in my opinion the Astra Sedan looks better than VW Jetta and Euro Ford Focus sedan.And it is a C segment car,not a competitor of Camry and Accord.
I'm Turkish,if that matters...
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Rachid 12:36PM (11/06/2006)
So.... What's the point of having a sedan ?
Isn't a hatchback more practical ?
You can even have the same shape in the car, so euhm, why are they making sedans ?
Ok, it looks cool on a limousine, but who cares about an Astra ? :-)
But I could be just totally wrong :-)
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Dreizehnernuss 3:33PM (11/06/2006)
"First of all i own a Civic LX, second of all i compared it to every car out there, no American car came in close as far as Quality goes NOT ONE."
Thats the reason why GM brings the german Opel brand cars to the US as Saturns.
So Saturn should compete with the "other europeans", especially Golf/Jetta and Focus.
Notchbacks are nearly not saleable at all in western europe. Thats the reason Opel initially droped the notchback. It was later added (developed in Brazil btw) to the hatchback, station wagon, coupe, convertible and minivan which already existed.
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