VAUXHALL Motors has just unveiled its most important new model in years – possibly even its entire history.
The sixth generation Astra will be the company’s main engine of prosperity until 2013 in a market tougher than anyone in the motor industry can remember.
So it’s got to be a winner.
And journalists who put it through its paces this week ahead of its launch this December appeared to be impressed.
That bodes well for the 2,155 employees – hundreds of them from Chester, Wrexham and Flintshire – at the Ellesmere Port plant where the first examples of the car are now rolling off the production line.
If the new Astra is a history maker in its importance to the company, it also has the distinction of having the latter stages of its development overshadowed by massive uncertainty about the future of Vauxhall and its German sister-company, Opel.
After the announcement last month that Canadian-owed car parts manufacturer, Magna International, had been successful in its bid to take over what has been General Motors’ European operation, delicate talks have continued on the nitty-gritty of the deal.
Despite assurances that Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port and Luton plants will stay open for the immediate future, unions in particular are sceptical about the number of jobs which might have to be shed.
But the Magna situation was the last thing Vauxhall representatives wanted to talk about when the new Astra took its first bow for the media at the Ellesmere Port plant last Thursday morning.
Since winning the battle within GM Europe to have the honour – and security – of becoming the lead Astra plant in 2007, a vast effort has been put into preparing for the new model.
This was while it performed the juggling act of continuing the produce the current Astra.
Although new Astra will eventually also be built at GM plants in Poland, China, Korea and the USA, making it truly a ‘world’ car, it is Ellesmere Port which is spearheading the process.
It is now producing what will be the most popular variant, the five-door hatchback, but towards the end of next year will also be tasked with turning out the sports tourer.
The Ellesmere Port production lines are already building 25 cars an hour and, when they hit full speed, that figure will increase to 40 – making the plant’s ultimate capacity a staggering 180,000 Astras a year.
Phil Robinson tests out the new car:
SO how does the new Astra actually feel out on the road?
To sum up, it gives the impression of being every bit as solid and powerful as the outgoing model – but with a fresh new twist to it.
On a test circuit that took journalists from the Vauxhall factory at Ellesmere Port and out to Portmeirion in North Wales, I was first the front-seat passenger in a petrol 1.6 turbo model and returned along a similar route at the wheel of a 2.0 turbo diesel.
The people from Vauxhall reckon that the latest Astra is “sporty and aggressive” and I don’t doubt it after my outward trip in the 1.6 turbo – the most powerful engine in the line-up.
It flew around the Welsh hills, sticking like a limpet to the road (thank goodness) and providing a real sense of exhilaration.
Capable of dashing from 0-60mph in just under eight seconds, it’s a real fire breather out on the open road but an extremely quiet and sedate commuter car in town traffic.
Handling in both models was superb – due in part to a revised rear suspension arrangement – but then it was always good in the Astra.
Comfort is of a high level and there’s a definite feeling of solidity to everything from the ride to the handling.
The new dash layout looks the business thanks to lavish use of black and chrome.
However, a slight gripe is the number of switches crowding into the central panel.
That takes quite a bit of studying before you are confident enough to feel your way around it, especially in the dark.
There seems to be loads more stuff there than in the previous model which was notable for its minimalist approach.
Another problem I can forsee is with the thick A panel holding the windscreen and the small quarterlight window that sits behind it.
On a couple of occasions while making a right turn I found this arrangement obscured my forward vision.
During my time at the wheel of the big diesel I found it extremely powerful and quiet – in fact, it sounded quite a bit less agricultural on tick-over than the 1.7 diesel Astra model I used to drive every day.
The automatic box in my test car was silky smooth.
Vauxhall have had winners on their hands with the previous five generations of Astra, and I can’t see why the latest one should be any different.