Opel's latest special edition vehicle, the Opel Corsa Color Race, is a car meant to harken back to the good ol' days.  The company wants potential customers to think back to a time when "racy-looking, muscular car outfits" were widely available.

It is for that reason that the automaker has produced a video featuring a Corsa Color Race in Sunny Melon Yellow going head-to-head with a 1971 Rallye Kadett B Sprint.  The two-minute long video does not have the best acting.  Nor does it have the best stunt driving.  However, it is still nice to see these two cars on screen [...]

According to a recent report, Opel's upcoming 2011 three-door Astra sport hatch is virtually identical to this official Opel design sketch.

Although details are limited, the sketch suggests the sport hatch will feature aggressive styling with massive air intakes, LED daytime running lights, and racy wheels. The car's designer, Malcolm Ward, says "It (the sport hatch) will be a very dramatic execution and very, very close to the sketch. Think about the current three-door then think about where the new car will go."

Power will likely be provided by the same engines found in the [...]

I don’t recommend you watch this video if you get car sick, but otherwise, let the race begin! At the wheel of this Opel Astra is Fabrizio Giovanardi, Vauxhall driver in the BTCC championship. While he’s the only one likely to drive an Astra like this, he beats the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Focus, saying “get a move on” as he overtakes one. Over to the video.
 
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The new Opel Astra brings into the compact class its own interpretation of the brand’s award-winning design language of combining sculptural artistry with German precision first seen in the Insignia. Its strong sporty lines and elegant details add to a new handsome look.

The exterior of the new generation Astra, which debuts in September at the IAA in Frankfurt, boasts a strong cab-forward, fluid silhouette. Inside, high quality materials and a total re-think of the design add to the excitement of driving a compact car. Moreover, Opel has added innovative extras – higher quality materials, more storage, [...]

GM's Opel unit has released another video of the new Astra hatchback. This time we get the chance to see car through an inside camera during testing at Opel's test center on the site of a former military airfield located in Pferdsfeld, 80 kilometers west of the automaker's Rüsselsheim headquarters. The video footage also gives us a quick glimpse of the 2010 Astra's interior, photos of which have yet to be revealed to the public. The new Astra will make its world debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September with the first example of the car arriving in European [...]

For those of you who want to see more of the new Opel Insignia Sports Tourer OPC, General Motors' soon-to-be-sold European unit has released the first video footage of its Audi S4 Avant rivaling estate. Like the Insignia OPC sedan, the Sports Tourer combines a 325HP and 435 Nm 2.8-liter V6 Turbo engine to Opel's all-wheel drive system and an electronically controlled rear limited slip differential. Click here to check out our detailed post on the Sports Tourer OPC or hit the jump to watch the film.
 
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The first pictures and details of the all-new 2010 Opel Astra aka Vauxhall Astra have been released. Opel's Golf rival takes the majority of its styling direction from the award-winning Insignia. The lines are sleek and sporty yet elegant and clean. It is built on the new Delta platform from General Motors which also underpins the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt.

A selection of engines will be available beginning with a 1.4-litre naturally aspirated petrol. A turbo 1.4-litre is also on the cards and will deliver power outputs ranging from 120hp (88kW) to 140hp (103kW). Torque is said to range from 175Nm [...]

GM’s European Opel division has announced that it will unveil a new electric-car at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show called the Opel Ampera. The Ampera is basically Opel’s version of the Chevrolet Volt. The electric-car is a five-door four-seater like the Volt and will feature GM’s new Voltec technology recently introduced in the Cadillac Converj Concept at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.
The Voltec system will allow the Opel Ampera to travel up to 37 miles on battery power alone. The battery is a lithium-ion pack that can be charged via a standard 230v [...]

The next-generation Saab 9-5 sports sedan has been an on-off project for quite a while now and even though the vehicle is supposed to be in showrooms by 2009, we have yet to see any decent prototype models on the road. Instead, for the past few years Saab's engineers have been fiddling around with Opel Vectra and now, Opel Insignia test mules. These latest scoop pictures were shot by a reader of Sweden's Auto Motor & Sport magazine who stumbled upon a camouflaged Opel Insignia in a ferry boat from Denmark. A closer look inside revealed that the test mule [...]

Chevrolet is staking more than just its 97 year old reputation on the Volt electric half-breed; the very life of its parent General Motors is on the line. Volt will be in public hands by the end of 2010 if all goes according to schedule, and so far we don’t have reason to suspect all will not go well. Two pieces of news on the Volt front have landed on our laps.

Firstly the car will spawn other similar models, also powered by socket-rechargeable electric batteries that are good for 10 years of good service, at least. So Volt will serve [...]

The new Opel Insignia that’s set to go on sale in Europe later this year will be offered with an optional dual-function camera that not only reads speed limit and no-overtaking signs and displays them on the instrument panel, but also alerts drivers when they unintentionally veer out of their lane.
Called “Front Camera System”, it utilizes a front mounted high-resolution camera located between the windscreen and the rear-view mirror that can take 30 pictures per second along with two signal processors that filter and read the photos.

Depending on light conditions, the system’s Traffic [...]

Photos of the new Opel/Vauxhall Insignia’s interior have been officially revealed by the maker in anticipation of the car’s final debut. The pictures show the car’s updated look is centered around a back-lit instrument panel and center console, with ample room for the optional built-in navigation unit. Shiny piano-black plastic and matte aluminum-look trim offsets the otherwise dark grey interior.

Night-time driving is enhanced with an amber ambient lighting system for a unique touch. The instruments themselves are ‘chronometer inspired’, and the white-face dials appear to be easy to read with the contrasting black background and white lighting. The photos show [...]

May 23 1928 was the day when Adam Opel's grandson, Fritz von Opel, set a speed record for rocket-propelled cars of approximately 238 km/h in his RAK 2. The RAK 2 went into the history books as a cigar shaped race car with a long plume of fire and smoke powered by 24 solid-fuel rockets packed with 120 kg of explosives.
The RAK 2 used Opel's 10/40 PS chassis and two enormous wings to keep the caar grounded during its record attempts. Power came from 24 rockets stuffed with 120 kg of explosives, enough to blow [...]

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 [...]

Opel Astra GTC was one of the most appreciated models form the Geneva Motor Show. The new model was equipped with a 3-way audio system, which includes a "bass Radion 12" subwoofer.

The coupe will be produced in a special short edition and the happy owners will be enjoying the 270 hp turbocharged engine developed by Irmscher. The performance of this new model can't be ignored. Irmscher succeded in improving the 1.7 liter diesel engine with 20 hp, 1.9 liter disel engine with 25 hp and the 2.0 liter gasoline engine with 30 hp. Irmscher lowered the car by 30 mm [...]