Vauxhall Astra: Тарихы мен дамуы

Motor vehicle

The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car/small family car (C segment) that has been sold by Vauxhall since 1980. Over its eight generations, it has been made at several GM/Opel/Stellantis plants around Europe however most versions have been sourced from Vauxhall's plant at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. For its first two generations, the nameplate was applied to right hand drive versions of the Opel Kadett for use in the UK. Since 1991, Opel has used the Astra nameplate on its B/C platform. General Motors' Saturn division in the United States also offered a Belgian built version of the Astra as a captive import from late 2007 until Saturn was discontinued following GM's 2010 bankruptcy.

The seventh generation Astra was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in September 2015. A totally new design, the car is 200 kg lighter than its predecessor. It features a newly developed 1 litre 3 cylinder petrol engine. A special feature is the "OnStar" system, which allows you to call for assistance with an inbuilt dial.

The eighth generation Astra, which is derived from the Opel Astra L, was unveiled on 13 July 2021 and it went on sale on 12 November 2021. The vehicle is based on the third generation of the EMP2 platform which made its wheelbase grow by It will be offered as a hybrid for the first time and will unveil a 180 horsepower engine. The 225 horsepower version, taken from the Peugeot 508 and Peugeot 3008, will also be available on the GT version.

The MK1 Astra was a strong seller in the United Kingdom, and quickly established itself as Britain's second most popular small family car, but was never able to match the sales success of the Ford Escort. The MK2 Astra was a bigger seller than its predecessor, though again it failed to match the Ford Escort in terms of sales success. It further widened the gap between Vauxhall and rival products from Austin Rover, although the combined sales of ARG's Rover 200 and Austin Maestro ranges were often at least a match for the Astra's total sales. The MK3 Astra further narrowed the gap with the Ford Escort. The MK4 Astra was, by 2001, the second best selling car in Britain overall, behind the Ford Focus. Combined sales of Opel and Vauxhall Astra G made it the 26th most popular car in the world, with a total production of 3,799,015. The MK5 was the most successful version of the Astra. It was Britain's second best selling car in 2005, 2006 and 2007, further narrowing the gap between itself and the market–leading Ford Focus. In March 2009, nearly 2,500,000 Astras had been sold over five generations since its launch 30 years earlier, making it the fourth most popular car ever sold in Britain, with 90,641 sold in 2009. For 2010, it was Britain's second best selling new car with 80,646 sold. It was only outsold by the smaller Ford Fiesta, and finally managed to outsell the Ford Focus, and end Ford's lead of the small family car market after 37 years. Sales were down to 62,575 in 2011, becoming the fifth most popular new car in Britain. Many British police forces use the Astra as a panda car. The MK6 was used by 54 constabularies.

The Astra has been used in auto racing around the globe, in particular in touring car racing. Its highest success were achieved in the British Touring Car Championship (see BTC T Vauxhall Astra Coupe). The Astra Coupe replaced the Vectra in the BTCC after the regulations changed in 2001 and immediately became a successful car in British Touring Car Championship taking both first and second in the drivers championship in 2001 with Jason Plato, 2002 with James Thompson, 2003 with Yvan Muller & 2004 with James Thompson. The Astra Coupe was able to also take the Teams and Manufacturers Championships at the same time between 2001 and 2004. During its 4 years in the hands of the works VXRacing team it was almost invincible taking 61 wins. After 2004, it was decided that Vauxhall would retire the Astra Coupe and move on to the Mark 5 Astra Sport Hatch for the next two years. Due to the reliability and speed of the Astra Coupe, they were used by many independent teams such as GA Motorsport, Collards Motorsport, Thurlby Motors and Arkas Racing for the next few years with one car entered this year by Martin Johnson. The newer cars struggled to match the coupe's pace and were beaten by the Hondas and SEATs on many occasions. Yvan Muller was runner up and Colin Turkington sixth in 2005. In 2006 Yvan Muller moved to the World Touring Car Championship while Colin Turkington moved back to MG. They were replaced by Fabrizio Giovanardi who finished fifth overall and gave Vauxhall its 100th BTCC win, Gavin Smith seventh and Tom Chilton eighth. For 2007, VX Racing dropped the Astra in favour of the Vectra C and reduced to two cars. Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Chilton drove for the team in 2007. The BTC T Vauxhall Astra Coupe was a car that won 25 out of 26 races in the 2001 British Touring Car Championship season. The Astra 4S finished fourth in the final round of the 1986 British Rally Championship.

The Vauxhall Astra VXR won the Best Sporting Car from the Scottish Car of the Year 2012 held at Glasgow on 14 October 2012.