Astra-nomical projections
A smart looking car that is more agile than its looks suggest
Highly dynamic chassis, large boot and passenger seating space 
Cramped front row, overly soft seats Opel’s new Astra sedan is both practical and sporty at the same time
By Lionel Kong
IT’S NO SECRET that even though Opel originates from Germany, the brand is owned by American automotive giant General Motors and has been since 1929. As is the policy with almost all of the brands sold under the GM umbrella, the European built Astra can be found marketed around the world bearing different badges, a strategy designed to best represent the GM brand in each region.
This has resulted in the occasional confusion when local Opel owners here travel overseas and see the cars that they own back home wearing the badge of another automaker.
The Astra is actually one of the most popular cars in the General Motors stable and carries a Holden badge in Australia, a Chevrolet badge in Central America, a Saturn badge in the USA and its original Opel badge in Europe and parts of Asia, including Singapore.
It’s a car for the international market and its many lives with different badges is sometimes bewildering, but the roots of the Astra’s design still come from Germany. The new Opel Astra sedan launched at the end of March here now brings the Astra model range here in Singapore up to five, with a five-door hatchback, estate, coupe-cabriolet and three-door GTC filling out the rest of the range.
Beneath the sedan is the chassis of the Astra estate, which means that it also gets the generous 2,703mm wheelbase, contributing to the car’s high speed stability as well as leaving lots of room between the front and rear wheels for a larger cabin.
