Holden Astra 2008 News

Aussie car fans and nostalgia buffs will tell you that local motoring reached its peak in the 1970s.

It has a two-part retractable hardtop, not the canvas roof seen in the earlier Holden Astra droptop in Australia, to give it a showroom advantage over the Volkswagen Golf. There is no confirmation yet that the fresh-air favourite will return down under but it looks highly likely.  

Filming of the Australian series has turned into a demolition derby with a repair bill close to $200,000.

The all-white Astra VXR is called the Nurburgring, after the track where it was developed, and comes with a bunch of body bits including white-painted alloys, dark-tinted windows, carbon fibre effect mirrors and B-Pillars, chequered flag body graphics and an interior upgrade including more carbon fibre pieces and a limited-edition build plate. It has the same mechanical package as the regular VXR, with a 177kW turbo engine, six-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel drive, and is priced at $44,990.Globally there will be only 835 cars, reflecting the Nurburgring's 8 minute 35 second lap at the track.Scott Grant says its arrival shows HSV is looking to become more than just V8 Commodores.“For the last two years we've done roughly 200 VXRs a year. We're just starting to spread our wings and talk to a different type of customer,” he said. “I think we're going to need a bit more of that.”In 2007, 81 per cent of VXR buyers did not own or had even driven an HSV. And 68 per cent of them were women.“That hot hatch area is really strong. We want to supplement the loss of demand for some other products, perhaps with four cylinders from overseas, to balance the brand,” he said. 

Less than 20 per cent of Australians are now buying Australian, with imported vehicles taking 81 per cent of the record 1,049,982 vehicle sales last year.The Holden Commodore was still the country's favourite car for the 12th straight year, but the swing to imports was reflected in the Ford Falcon's slide to a lowly fifth place in the ranking of best sellers.It was beaten by the Mazda3 and the Toyota Hilux pickup.The Mitsubishi 380 did not even make the top 10.The strong performance of imported vehicles came as many more Australians turned to small cars and four-wheel-drives, which rebounded after the fuel shocks of 2006, in preference to locally made family cars.Sales of 4WDs were up 16 per cent against an industry average of 9.1 per cent, while sales of light cars priced below $15,000 improved 10.2 per cent.Toyota dominated the new-car results last year, taking its run at No.1 to five straight years, with a margin of more than 90,000 over second-placed GM Holden and a 128,000-car gap over Ford in third.Toyota also lifted its sales to more than 200,000 and is aiming for 250,000 in 2008.The one-million-vehicle milestone was a first for the industry but is expected to be bettered this year with sales of at least 1,060,000, according the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, which compiles the official VFacts sales results.“Last year the motor vehicle market grew at approximately twice the rate of the economy as a whole,” FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said.“One million new motor vehicles in a country of 21 million people is an impressive achievement."“The Australian motor vehicle market has now grown in six out of the last seven years, driven by the strength of the labour market, rising asset values and improving vehicle affordability.”Though Australia's sales rate of about 1 in 20 people was even better than Britain's 1 in 25, Mr McKellar sounded a warning.“Although economic fundamentals remain strong and consumer confidence is proving to be robust, we think future growth will be more closely aligned with trends in overall domestic demand,” Mr McKellar said.The industry also faces a review of federal government policy this year, with local carmakers arguing for an extension of the existing arrangements, including support from the Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme.They will point to the growth in exports in recent years, with overseas deliveries by GM Holden and Toyota now totalling more than $5 billion a year.Toyota said the domestic sales of its Camry and V6 Aurion, which totalled close to 50,000 cars last year, were easily beaten by exports of more than 90,000 cars.   Our top 10 favourite carsRanking 2006 2007Holden Commodore: 56,531 57,307Toyota Corolla: 46,256 47,792Toyota HiLux: 36,885 42,009Mazda3: 32,432 34,394Ford Falcon: 42,390 33,941Toyota Yaris: 29,663 27,990Toyota Camry: 24,221 26,336Toyota Aurion: 3380 22,036Hyundai Getz: 20,853 21,166Holden Astra: 19,364 20,588 

The Astra TwinTop is finally confirmed for Down Under duties and could even make it to showrooms before the end of the year. While GM Holden refuses to confirm any details, and insists it is still working through the business case for the car, its dealers are talking openly about the TT and even touting an on-sale date in the back end of October. The early arrival is unlikely, particularly as there are still stocks of the previous-model Astra convertible in Australia, but GM Holden is keen. The car is expected to come with a 2.2-litre petrol engine, electronic stability control, five-speed manual and automatic gearboxes, and a price tag close to the current car, which will mean about $45,000. GM Holden is not likely to follow Vauxhall, which has a 1.6-litre price leader at closer to $38,000 in Britain. The TwinTop is the latest of the new generation of convertibles which have a solid roof - usually metal, but composite in the latest Mazda MX-5 - to make them into a complete coupe when they are not doing convertible duties. It can easily be added to the local line-up as GM Holden has a commitment on Astra numbers - but not the exact model mix - it takes from Opel in Europe. It has already tweaked the mix this year to introduce the Astra turbo coupe and diesel hatch. "We have said for some time that we're looking at the possibility of the Astra TwinTop convertible," says GM Holden spokesman Jason Laird. "We think the retractable hardtop would do quite well here. We are still looking at timing and pricing, but it makes a fairly compelling case." Laird says the TwinTop could create problems clearing the last of the previous model, without going into specifics. And he has ruled out any chance of a TwinTop turbo, although there was a time when the Astra range included a performance convertible. But GM Holden is moving quickly on the latest Astra and knows it would be a summer hit in Australia. "From the moment we introduced the current car it became the best-selling convertible in the country and has pretty much stayed there," Laird says. "When we introduced the five-door Astra in 2004, we knew we would have the ability to customise the local Astra fleet. "The trick with Astra is to pick the right cars at any point in time. It's not necessarily about taking every variant, but picking the right ones at the right time." Meanwhile, the upcoming Holden Epica is going to rock Toyota Australia's fuel-economy drive. Toyota is pushing the fuel-economy advantages of its all-new Camry and upcoming V6Aurion over the VE Commodore. But the Korean-made Epica promises to undercut the Camry, which achieves 9.9-litres/100km, according to leaked information from Holden at Fishermans Bend. The Camry-sized Epica looks likely to run at 8.2-litres/100km with a two-litre engine, according to ADR81/01 trials, with the 2.5-litre model coming in at 9.3-litres/100km.