Vauxhall to ditch Vectra name
11 December 2006
- Insignia could be next Vauxhall family car
- Concept to be shown at Geneva show next year
- New car on sale in 2008
Vauxhall is killing off the Vectra name for its next family car car due in mid-2008.
President of Vauxhall’s parent company General Motors Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, leaked the news to BusinessCar magazine, explaining that the all-new car would be 'a radical departure' from the current model and that the Vectra name would be dropped to reflect this change.
The new model’s title hasn’t formally been announced but insiders believe it will be Insignia, after the 2003 luxury concept car of the same name.
Forster remained elusive as to what shape the 'radical departure' would take – but rumours of a similar swooping rear roofline to the ‘four-door coupe’ Mercedes CLS were not rebuffed.
The Vectra replacement will feature the new 178bhp 1.6 turbo petrol – just announced for the face-lifted Astra on sale next February – plus the 138bhp 1.8 VVT petrol, a new 200bhp V6 diesel and potentially a 168bhp 1.9-litre diesel.
A strong hint of what the new car will look like will be unveiled at the Geneva motorshow in early March 2007 with the final production vehicle shown in Geneva 2008 followed by a mid-2008 on sale date.
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