10 Millionth Opel Astra Rolls Off The Production Line

Today, nearly 17 years after the first Astra left Opel’s Bochum plant in Germany on August 12, 1991, the 10 millionth Astra rolled of the company’s production line at the same plant. The commemorative model is a Silver Lightning Astra Station Wagon 1.7 CDTI and according to Opel, it’s equipped with special features to celebrate this production milestone.

The Astra is currently produced in eight plants on two continents. In Europe, the current models are built in Bochum, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Ellesmere Port, United Kingdom and Gliwice, Poland. The Astra is also fully or partially assembled in Russia, the Ukraine, Brazil and Serbia. It's also Opel's first compact-sized model since the Kadett B that found it’s way into the USA where its sold with the Saturn badge. -Continued

The British buy the most Astras. Last year, 119,082 units were sold in the U.K. while the second-largest market is Germany (74,226), followed by Italy (43,128) and Spain (41,282). The most popular Astra in Western Europe is the 1.6 ECOTEC model Enjoy.

Vauxhall Astra VXR 255Hp Nurburgring Edition

What the Opel Astra OPC or, as it’s called in the UK, the Vauxhall Astra VXR, lacks in finesse and overall capabilities compared to its main rival, the VW Golf GTi, it more than compensates with its hardcore character. And while here in the U.S. we get “stuck” with the Saturn Astra 1.8, in the UK, buyers can now opt for a limited production version of the top-notch 3door Astra dubbed “Nürburgring Edition”.

Named after the car’s spiritual home, where much of its pre-production development was carried out, the Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition comes with an exclusive all-white paint finish and lightweight white 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Dunlop tyres. Other exterior features include dark tinted windows, carbon fibre effect mirrors and B-Pillars and distinctive chequered flag body graphics.

The Nürburgring Edition theme continues inside, with carbon fibre detailing on the door trims and fascia, bespoke leather seats with the Nürburgring circuit graphic embossed into the Recaro front seat backrests and an individually numbered plaque showing each car’s build number. -Continued

Mechanically-wise, all UK-specification cars will come with a Remus Sports Exhaust, developed with Vauxhall’s BTCC race team, Triple-Eight Race Engineering, which provides a power increase of up to 15 Hp. The standard car’s turbocharged 2.0-liter engine produces 240 Hp in factory tune, giving it the ability to accelerate from 0-60mph (96 km/h) in 6.2 sec and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph or 250 km/h.

Sales of the limited edition Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition have begun in the UK priced at £21,295 on-the-road.