Holden has announced the return of one of our favourite-ever hot hatches – the Astra VXR – along with a number of other European-sourced Opel/Vauxhall vehicles to wear the Holden badge in the down-under markets.
While no doubt a bid to appear “a bit less Korean” following the imminent demise of the Commodore, the return of the hot little three-door Astra is a very welcome one, and the news that it will be joined not only by a not-as-hot 1.6-litre turbo version in both hatch (Holden Astra GTC) and convertible forms (Holden Cascada), but also the mighty AWD 2.8-litre V6 turbo Insignia sedan makes it even better.
In European markets the Astra VXR’s 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine pumps out an extremely healthy 206kW of power and 400Nm of torque, while the Insignia VXR churns out 239kW and 435Nm from its 2.8-litre turbo V6.
The Astra, Cascada and Insignia will go on sale in New Zealand in the first half of 2015.
At the same time as this was announced, Holden also revealed that it would be keeping its Lang Lang proving grounds beyond the demise of local manufacturing in Australia, ostensibly because the “engineering and vehicle development team at Lang Lang have the capability to tune suspension, steering and drivetrain characteristics for Australasia’s unique conditions and customers” according to a statement from Holden MD Gerry Dorzias. And with cars like the Astra and Insignia VXR heading our way, we’ll bet there are more than a few members of the engineering and vehicle development team who are very happy indeed…
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