CarBrandLogos archive · Opel · 1991
Europe's perennial Golf rival, and the car the Kadett became.
Discover the storyPhoto: © M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Opel Astra, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The Astra is a renaming, not a new model. In 1991 Opel dropped the Kadett name it had used since 1936 and adopted the one Vauxhall had been using in Britain since 1979, unifying the two brands' compact car under a single badge. Everything else stayed: transverse front engine, front-wheel drive, hatchback and estate, aimed directly at the Volkswagen Golf.
1998 Holden Astra City 5-door hatchback · Jeremy from Sydney, Australia · CC BY 2.0
02
What followed was three decades of high-volume manufacturing across Rüsselsheim, Bochum, Ellesmere Port and Gliwice, with the car exported under a remarkable number of names, sold as a Vauxhall in Britain, a Holden in Australia, a Saturn in the United States and a Chevrolet in several markets. Sporting versions ran from the GSi through the OPC and VXR, and the Astra was a regular in touring car racing, particularly in Britain and Germany.
2005 Holden Astra CD 5-door hatchback 01 · OSX · Public domain
03
The change of ownership in 2017, from General Motors to PSA and then Stellantis, moved the car onto a shared French platform, bringing plug-in hybrid and battery-electric versions and a sharper design language.
1994 Opel Astra 1.4i Sportive, rear left · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0
04
It has rarely been the most admired car in the class. It has consistently been one of the two or three best-selling.
At a glance
Produced
1991–presentTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Astra's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →From the journal
Lineage
Contemporaries from the 1990s
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