The new Astra is an eye-catcher. It also has a lot under the hood – thanks to technology from France.
Opel
published20. May 2022, 11:00 p.m.
The new generation of the compact car is also available with electrified drives. A pure Stromer is coming in 2023.
The VW Golf and the Opel Astra – the two have been fighting for dominance in the compact class for decades. In the meantime, however, both have been overrun by the new mainstream: Today, people mainly buy SUVs, electric cars or vehicles from the high-price segment. The air for the former kings of the car market is getting thinner and thinner.
While VW completely relaunched its former bestseller more than two years ago, Opel took much more time with the new generation of the Astra – the confusion caused by the takeover of PSA and the subsequent merger of PSA and FCA to form the Stellantis Group has the Rüsselsheimers taken the wind out of their sails in the meantime. But at the end of June, the new model will finally be available from Swiss dealers, for the first time as a plug-in hybrid. A pure Stromer is coming in 2023.
But apart from the technology, Opel was also progressive with the new model: Half of the 25-strong core development team were women. Mariella Vogler, who was already responsible for the development of other models, was in charge. “You can’t create a car that’s able to arouse positive feelings with an elbow-brain mentality,” says the chief engineer. “It’s not so much the female factor that influenced the result, but rather the diverse skills and talents that made the final product better.”
Visually dehydrated
The concentrated know-how of women was at work, especially in the interior. The development of the fully digital cockpit, for example, was managed by the Chinese Haiyan Yu, Ilka Höbermann and her team determined the design of the interior colors and materials, and Zuzana Majorova was responsible for quality assurance at the suppliers. “We had to think outside the box to achieve the best result,” says Höbermann. “It’s actually like a big jigsaw puzzle: You combine different exciting materials to achieve a nice contrast and balance.”
With the new model generation, the Opel Astra also has plug-in hybrid drives for the first time.
Opel
The cockpit with two screens combined to form the “Pure Panel” has been streamlined in terms of appearance.
Opel
After all, the plug-in variants manage around 60 kilometers purely electrically.
Opel
The result is impressive. Whereby: There is not that much to see in the cockpit at first, because it was reduced to the essentials in terms of design. “Visual Detox” is what Opel calls it, and anyone who imagines the interiors of previous Astra generations flooded with buttons will understand the dramatic expression. Two 10-inch widescreen displays behind a glazed surface form the so-called Pure Panel, below which there are direct keys for important functions, all other inputs are made via touchscreen or by voice, with the Astra now understanding complete sentences and responding to the salutation “Hey Opel » listen.
The drive range now includes two plug-in hybrids with 133 kW/180 hp or 165 kW/225 hp system output, which should cover around 60 kilometers purely electrically, with the more powerful variant only being introduced later in the year. There is also talk of an additional performance PHEV with 220 kW/300 PS – it is not known when this will be available. Two 1.2-litre petrol engines with 81 kW/110 hp or 96 kW/130 hp and a 1.5-litre diesel with 96 kW/130 hp are already on offer. It will be more exciting next year when a purely electrically powered version will be available as the Astra-e. And the popular station wagon (Sports Tourer) will not be available until 2023. The new Opel Astra is available from CHF 32,640.
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