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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Vauxhall Sports Cars Red Victor 3 V8 Engine
Vauxhall Sports Cars Red Victor 3 V8 Engine
Vauxhall Sports Cars Red Victor 3 V8 Engine
Vauxhall Sports Cars Red Victor 3 V8 Engine
Friday, July 23, 2010
2011 Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Pricing Revealed
GM has announced Prices for the new Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer will start at £16,575 when it arrives in UK showrooms towards the end of the year.
The Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer is available on the British market with a choice between a 1.4-liter 100PS engine and a 1.7 CDTi diesel with 110PS. The equipment list of the new Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer includes air conditioning, curtain airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESP), Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) and Active Safety Front Head Restraints.
Other trim levels include Exclusiv, SE and SRi, each come with a variety of standard and optional equipment, including FlexFold, which allows each section of the 60:40 split-fold rear seatbacks to be lowered at the press of a button housed in the walls of the cargo compartment.
Inside, the Flexfold seat system allows the rear seats to be folded in a 60:40 combination to reveal 500 litres of load space – 30 litres more than the Astra hatchback version.
Press Release
The new Astra Sports Tourer will enter the UK market later this year priced at just £16,575, over £500 less than the current entry-level Astra Estate, yet incorporating a long list of additional standard kit.
Built in Britain at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant, the Astra Sports Tourer range starts with the 1.4 (100PS) ES model, which gains an extra 10PS of power over the equivalent 1.4 Astra Estate. It also adds: air conditioning, curtain airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESP), Electronic Parking Brake (EPB), an aux-in socket and Active Safety Front Head Restraints, all as standard.
Better still, the Sports Tourer’s premium over the 5-door hatch model starts from just £995, for which customers benefit from a larger cargo area (500* versus 470 litres, with rear seats up), despite retaining the same wheelbase as the new hatch.
Diesel pricing is equally aggressive, with the entry-level 110PS 1.7 CDTi ES Sports Tourer costing less than the outgoing 90PS 1.3 CDTi Astra Estate Life, yet packing more power and benefiting from sub-120g/km CO2emissions.
The Sports Tourer range comprises four trim levels: ES, Exclusiv, SE and SRi, but adds a variety of standard and optional equipment, including FlexFold, which allows each section of the 60:40 split-fold rear seatbacks to be lowered at the press of a button housed in the walls of the cargo compartment.
Joining the new Astra range, which has now sold over 30,000 units in the UK since it was launched at the end of last year, the Sports Tourer is likely to account for approximately 10 per cent of all sales. Illustrating the depth of Vauxhall’s engineering and manufacturing excellence, the Sports Tourer will be assembled solely at its Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire, while its upper-body structure has been 100 per cent engineered at Vauxhall Engineering Centre in Bedfordshire.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
New Opel Meriva: Opening the door to greater flexibility [Video]
Geneva/Rüsselsheim. Innovative, versatile and stylish: the second generation Opel Meriva, making its world premiere at Geneva, raises the bar for automotive versatility. It is packed with a multitude of innovative features, engineered to optimize the flexible use of space and presented in a distinctive, contemporary design.
Opel created a new market segment for small, affordable monocabs when it launched the first generation Meriva in 2003. With its revolutionary FlexSpace rear-seating concept, high seating position and roomy cabin, it has always been big on flexibility yet small in size.
Now the second generation Meriva takes affordable, on-board flexibility to a new level. It introduces FlexDoors, innovative rear-hinged rear doors that facilitate cabin access - an industry first for a volume manufacturer. Greater interior stowage space is also enhanced by FlexRail, a revolutionary concept for adaptable center console storage. All this, in addition to an easy-to-use FlexSpace seating system and the option of Opel's unique FlexFix integrated rear bicycle carrier.
The Meriva's dynamic proportions brings elegance to the small monocabs. Its expressive exterior and interior styling carries forward Opel's new award-winning sculptural design language already introduced on the Insignia and Astra. A distinctive wave graphic for the rear side windows accentuates the Meriva's FlexDoors, while also improving the view for rear passengers, particularly children.
Entering a new era of doors
Meriva opens up a new dimension in rear seat access with its unique rear-hinged rear doors. Unlike some current designs, the Meriva's FlexDoors are full-sized. The use of a conventional B-pillar enables them to be opened independently, without the need for a clamshell overlap by the front doors.
FlexDoors make it easy to get in and out of the rear seat without any twisting or sliding. It's also more convenient for parents to reach in to help buckle up children. For optimum access, FlexDoors open up to 84 degrees, much wider than conventional doors. The Meriva's front occupants also enjoy the same wide-opening access.
When the front and rear doors are open at the same time, a natural safety zone is also created. A door no longer separates a child and its parent and parents can keep an eye on their kids, for example, when getting out of the car. It's also more convenient for the driver or front passenger to open a FlexDoor when stowing a jacket, briefcase or an umbrella behind the front seat, for example.
Apart from better ergonomics, FlexDoors add a touch of style. Stepping in and out of the vehicle not only feels much more natural, it looks cool and elegant.
The FlexDoors concept has been successfully market-tested with Meriva customers since 2006. A patented locking system including a highly-sophisticated FlexDoors logic ensures the passengers are always protected whenever the vehicle is in motion.
New dimensions in on-board versatility
Increased flexibility is extended to all areas of the new Meriva. The innovative FlexSpace rear seating system has been further developed and refined and it is now more intuitive to move or fold the seats down, making the system easy to use.
Throughout the cabin, storage space is considerably increased with convenient locations provided for items which are most commonly carried inside a car. The revolutionary FlexRail console system consists of exchangeable storage units that slide on aluminum rails located between the front seats. It provides convenient and adaptable storage for many different uses. The FlexRail system was made possible because of the high mounted gear shift lever and the electric parking brake.
The new, generously proportioned seats, similar to those of the Astra and Insignia, offer a class-leading range of adjustment - 240 mm forwards/backwards and 65 mm in height.
Monocab expression of new Opel design
Meriva moves forward Opel's new, expressive design language - sculptural artistry meets German precision - with the same focus on quality already seen on Insignia and the new Astra.
A lower, sweeping roof-line and Opel's signature blade side-body motif combine with the wave rear window line to give the new Meriva a fresh, distinctive character.
Inside, the wraparound wing-shaped instrument panel enhances the feeling of width and roominess, while the forward-leaning center stack also adds sculptured space. The cabin is available with six different levels of color and trim, the widest choice ever offered for a single Opel model.
Efficient performance
The new Opel Meriva will be offered with an engine line-up ranging from 55 kW/75 hp to 103 kW/140 hp. All engines comply with the Euro5 emissions standards.
The gasoline line-up will offer three variants of the 1.4-liter multi-valve engine. Variable valve timing, for improved breathing, is a feature of the entry 100 hp 1.4-liter, the only naturally-aspirated unit in the line-up. The choice is completed by the 1.4-liter Turbo engine introduced on the new Astra range, offered here in two output versions: 88 kW/120 hp or 103 kW/140 hp. The top-of-the-line 1.4 Turbo is equipped with a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The diesel line-up starts with a 55 kW/75 hp, 1.3 CDTI engine fitted with closed loop technology. This control system improves fuel consumption: Opel is the first to adopt it on such a small engine. The diesel offer is completed with the 1.7 CDTI motor (74 kW/100 hp) with a six-speed automatic transmission.
Later this year, the engine line-up will gain three additional diesel variants: A low CO2 emitting ecoFLEX variant will be powered by the 70 kW/95 hp 1.3 CDTI engine. Two variants of the 1.7 CDTI engine will also be available, developing 81 kW/110 hp and 96 kW/130 hp respectively; both are equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission.
The new Meriva benefits from a longer wheelbase and wider front and rear tracks, which contribute to improved handling and greater ride comfort.
New champion
"With the Zafira Flex 7 and the Meriva's FlexSpace seating concepts, we invented a new fully integrated, on-board flexibility," says Alain Visser, Vice President Sales, Marketing and Aftersales Opel/Vauxhall. "For the new Meriva, we wanted to engineer the new versatility champion in the automotive industry. I don't see any other car offering so many features that make life easier."
Designed and developed at Opel's engineering center in Rüsselsheim, Germany, the new Meriva will be built in Zaragoza, Spain. It is scheduled to go on sale this summer.
New Opel Meriva now available starting at 15,900 euros
The new Opel Meriva premieres today at the 80th Geneva Motor Show and can now be ordered in Germany as well as in several other European countries. Prices for Opel's new flexibility champion start at 15,900 euros in Germany for the entry-level 1.4-liter (74 kW/100 hp) gasoline engine.
Opel created a new market segment for highly versatile yet small and affordable monocabs when it launched the first generation Meriva in 2003. The second generation Meriva is again a pioneer in fully integrated, on-board flexibility by introducing FlexDoors, innovative rear-hinged rear doors that facilitate cabin access - an industry first for a volume manufacturer. The Meriva's famous FlexSpace rear-seating concept has been further developed to become even more intuitive and easy to use. Greater stowage capacity is further enhanced by FlexRail, a revolutionary concept for adaptable center console storage, and Opel's unique FlexFix integrated rear bicycle carrier.
The Opel Meriva will be available in three equipment levels: Essentia, Enjoy and Cosmo.
As usual on its models, Opel offers an extensive active and passive safety equipment, such as: ESP, front airbags, side and curtain airbags, seat belt reminders front and rear, front seat belt force limiters and pretensioners, adaptive brake lights, the Opel Pedal Release System as well as ISOFIX for rear outer seats.
The Essentia entry level models already offer rich equipment with - of course - the FlexSpace and FlexDoors systems, but also the space saving Electric Park Brake (EPB), heated power exterior mirrors, power windows in the front, remote control for doors, tailgate and fuel filler cap locking, the FlexFloor (the floor can be raised to bumper height for ease of loading and under-floor stowage), a seat height adjuster for the driver as well as a height and reach-adjustable steering column.
The Enjoy level also adds air conditioning, a radio CD300 system with MP3 and the innovative FlexRail storage system between the front seats that features a tray with cup holder. Side and curtain head airbags are standard as of Enjoy (optional on Essentia). For the interior, the customer can choose between three colour combinations.
Compared to Enjoy, the upper Cosmo execution adds front and rear power windows, front fog lamps, a board computer, cruise control, a leather steering wheel with controls, the flexible front armrest from the FlexRail system as well as 16-inch alloy wheels. The Cosmo trim level is available in two colour combinations for the interior.
True to the Opel philosophy of making innovative technology affordable, equipment such as the halogen directional AFL headlights (Adaptive Forward Lighting), the heated steering wheel, the panorama sunroof, Hill Start Assist or the AGR*-certified ergonomic front sport seats - a unique feature in the segment - are also available.
The new Opel Meriva will be offered with an engine line-up ranging from 55 kW/75 hp to 103 kW/140 hp. All engines comply with the Euro 5 emissions standard.
* AGR: Aktion Gesunder Rücken e.V. (Action for Healthy Backs) - an independent panel of ergonomics experts and doctors in Germany.
Source:Opel
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Opel Insignia Leaked
Yesterday, Dutch car magazine AutoWeek has blown the Opel Insignia embargo out of the water but failed to supply eager car enthusiasts with official specs. The car mag posted seven images on their website stating that the official press release should follow later this week.
Embargo breaking seems to be a favorite pass-time for many print magazines and the new Opel Insignia, destined for a British International Motor Show debut this summer as the Vauxhall Insignia, is no exception. On the bright side, Opel may now be inclined to release the official specs and full image gallery earlier.
The Opel Insignia will compete in the highly competitive D segment together with the new Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6, Renault Laguna and VW Passat. The new Insignia is the successor of the Opel Vectra and was first seen as the GTC Concept at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show.
As mentioned above, there are no official specs but we can hazard a guess at which engines may be available. Starting with 1.6 and 2.0 liter turbo and 250 hp 2.8 liter V6 petrol engines, a 1.9 liter diesel and 1.9 liter turbo diesel (power output ranging from 120 to 180 hp). A 2.9 liter V6 diesel is expected to follow later while an OPC version may end up with 300 hp.
Stay tuned for official information!
Related entries:
2008 Opel Insignia Teaser Revealed
Vauxhall Insignia Best Interior Spy Shots
Opel Insignia to Debut at British Motor Show
Opel Insignia
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Vauxhall Reveal New Logo
This summer we will see the unveiling of the All New Vauxhall Insignia at the British Motor Show in London, but little did we know until this recent announcement that it will also be sporting the brand new Griffin Logo with a new look for 2008.
Bill Parfitt, Vauxhall’s Managing Director, said “While the new-look Griffin pays homage to our 100 year-plus manufacturing heritage in the UK, it also encapsulates Vauxhall’s fresh design philosophy, first showcased in the current Astra, and set to continue with Insignia".
Check out the additional images to see the evolution of the logo since the 1920s.
Related entries:
2008 Opel Insignia Teaser Revealed
Opel Insignia to Debut at British Motor Show
Opel Insignia Almost Undisguised
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Vauxhall Reveal The Secrets Of Camouflage
Vauxhall has released a series of spy shots of the upcoming Insignia, as well a quick lesson in keeping vehicle designs hidden with the use of camouflage.
Although computer simulation and testing provides a great deal of information about how prototypes will handle in the real world, nothing can replace actually test driving a new vehicle. This exposes the car to the prying eyes of the spy photographers and potentially millions of people with camera phones. To counter this Vauxhall uses a special team that works with designers and engineers to determine the most critical aspects to disguise.
Using a wooden model the team makes custom fitting covers for the exterior body panels, while foil and foam is used to change the vehicle's contours. The extensive testing required for vehicles means the camouflage has to able to remain effective in temperatures ranging from minus 40 to plus 70 degrees Celsius. Other tricks of the trade include making special headlight units that won’t be used on production cars and attaching different brand logos to test vehicles.
Previously Vauxhall used a seizure inducing black and white checkerboard pattern, now the company has adopted fish shaped patterns called “Fishies” which confuse camera lenses. Soon the company will use reflective “Flimmies” that create a flickering effect. The company also has as special rules about test cars, such as drivers cannot stop and park in public places and a vehicle cover must always be on board.
The Vauxhall Insignia will debut July 22nd at the British Motor Show, and as always stay tuned to WCF for coverage of the unveiling.
Related entries:
2008 Opel Insignia Teaser Revealed
Opel Insignia to Debut at British Motor Show
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008
New Vauxhall Meriva Details
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New-look Meriva joins Vauxhall line-up
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Sophisticated and economical 1.3 CDTi and 1.6 Twinport engines join the range
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New turbocharged flagship VXR
There’s a new look, new technology and a hot new addition to the family as Vauxhall continues to move its stylish and dynamic model range forward with a revised version of its smallest MPV.
On sale now, New Meriva gets a freshened front end, with a reprofiled bumper and more prominent V-grille, which brings the mini-MPV into line with the latest Vauxhall family look. At the rear the Meriva gains dark rear lamp lenses and a classy chrome strip across the tailgate. New paint schemes and wheels combine with a revised cabin, featuring extra chrome detailing and fresh fabrics, to complete the stylish new look.
Two new engines are available, and both offer exceptional economy. The high-tech 1.3-litre CDTi diesel, as used in Corsa and Tigra, appears in Meriva for the first time, delivering an impressive combined fuel economy figure of 56.5mpg allied to a lively top speed of 98mph. The award-winning 75PS unit features common-rail injection and four-valves per cylinder to ensure excellent economy and smooth responses.
The second new addition is to the petrol engine line-up, in the form of the 1.6-litre 105PS Twinport engine used in Astra and Zafira. With 5PS more than the outgoing Meriva 1.6, the newcomer is livelier yet more economical, having a top speed of 112mph and a combined economy figure of 42.2 mpg – a six percent improvement over the outgoing car.
New Meriva is also the next model to join Vauxhall’s VXR performance line-up, with a 180PS turbocharged 1.6-litre engine and distinctive styling.
All versions of New Meriva will feature several technical innovations which are unique in its class, including a halogen version of Vauxhall’s innovative Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL). More affordable than the Xenon lighting used in existing versions of AFL, the Halogen set-up includes curve lights that adjust beam angles subject to speed and steering angles. The system offers far greater night time visibility over standard Halogen lighting without the cost of a full Xenon system.
Other New Meriva features include a power release tailgate and interior lighting that can be activated by remote control, leading the way to the car in the dark – fitted as standard in all models. Follow-me-home headlights are also standard on all models, while optional mobile phone installation with Bluetooth interface is also appearing on the options list for the first time.
Thanks to its FlexSpace concept, New Meriva will continue to offer the same versatility and flexibility that its predecessor has offered since 2003. Despite its compact 4.05 metres length, Meriva offers generous storage and plenty of comfortable seating, and can be quickly and easily transformed from a five-seater into a four, three or two-seater in just a matter of seconds.
New Meriva will be the first of several new products to join the Vauxhall line-up in 2006, with prices starting at just £9,995.
