New Vauxhall Astra: first look - Introduction

Price: From £14,500
On sale: December
You'll like: Great looks; great quality
You won't: Resale values won't be up to much

Vauxhall is doing its best to keep its chin up, whatever the uncertainties over its future as it is hived off from a bankrupt General Motors.

Along with European partner Opel, it is preparing to launch the sixth-generation Astra at the end of the year, and insists the car will continue to be built in the UK at Ellesmere Port, despite questions over the plant's prospects under new ownership.

The good news is that the next Astra is good-looking and built to a very high standard and, from what we could glean from a drive of an early prototype in Germany, it's pretty capable, too.

It borrows many of its design cues – and even some of its hardware – from the Insignia, but they haven't just been copied and pasted onto the smaller car.

Malcolm Ward, whose current title is director of exterior design for GM Europe, says the aim was to give the Astra its own identity and avoid taking a 'Russian doll' approach.

New Vauxhall Astra preview video
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