New Opel Insignia (Holden Vectra) revealed
April 18, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Holden pulled the Vectra model from the Australian market in 2005 amid slow sales and the rising import cost, but that might all change now that Opel has come out with a new Vectra, better known as the Opel Insignia.
Not only does it look absolutely brilliant, but the new car may go a long way in helping GM’s ailing fortunes. The Insignia will be sold as the next-gen Saturn Aura in the States and there is speculation that it may even return to Australasia as the new Vectra (or possibly change name to Insignia),
Update – GM Holden would not comment about the possibility of a Vectra comeback to Australia.
The new Opel will be in European dealerships this October with five engines choices which all meet Euro 5 emissions standards. All variants are available with manual or six-speed automatic transmissions.
Buyers can pick between a hatchback or saloon and the car sits five. Some of the new features include a peculiar new headlight system which works out where to point the headlights (nine different settings) under different conditions.
The entry model will be powered by a four-cylinder 104kW petrol engine, hard hitting torque will be available via 2.0-litre turbodiesels tuned to 97kW and 120kW. There is also an EcoFLEX version available which promises very low CO2 emissions. At the very top sits a V6 engine with 194kW.
The new Insignia/Vectra will be on display for the first time at the London Motor Show in late July.
Should Holden bring back the Vectra? Would it succeed against Ford’s gorgeous Mondeo?
Tags: Holden Vectra, Opel Insignia
i don’t mind the front or side profile but WTF is with the read is every car gong sharp at the rear AhLa AU falcon
This could well be a Mondeo fighter, unlike the RUBBISH from Korea that GMH dish up now.
The issue will be the price, it wont be much less than a Commodore so the figures dont add up.
Still, if you want a diesel gives you more choice, but then again the VM Italian built TurboDiesel V6 Commodore would’nt be all that far away [still talking years though].
BUT why the f*ck would you bother, diesel will be $2L by xmas and the ULP are frugal on fuel.
THE ANWSER IS LPG [Dont tell everybody, we want to keep the demand and price LOW! :-)]
OUCH!
Cheers
F-0
must admit looks good, and im a ford fan, whats the interior like?
Just hope it gets bought here to replace the Epica.
Looks and will drive far better.
Front looks nice but the rear looks like it doesnt belong. Those join lines at the rear look odd. Amazing how thid car could be mistaken for many others right now. Guess they all follow the same design trends……especially the doors.
Hey EscortGhia, it just goes to prove that the AU Falcon was ahead of the curve…
And what is it with all these cars going with the Bangle-butt style that was hated just a few short years ago?
looks good on the side. The back lights look very Astra and the front very Honda. Hope it doesn’t come to Australia, I still want the rebirth of the Torana which is a better looking car and will be more in tune with the Australian market.
Flip a coin. Epica or Insignia? Only joking…
It looks brilliant.
It looks superb
that is brilliant i love please bring it here.ITs highly doubbtful though as it is 4.8 metres long.And the intereior i way ahead of mondeo and i love the mondeo but would prefer this it looks so good
I think it looks really good, however, it has become clear that people are not willing to pay a premium for Opels wearing a Holden badge (Astra excluded). Ford has this problem too but not to the same extent as their European products have for many years been considered to be superior to the Opel ones – at least by the European press. And let’s be brutally honest here: the last Vectra we had on Australian shores was ok, but it was miles behind the Accord Euro, Liberty and Mazda 6 (and Mondeo in NZ and UK). This is probably why Opel are considering a name change: to rid themselves from the bad memories of a car which Jeremy Clarkson said “was designed in a coffee break by people who couldn’t care less about cars” and “one of the worst chassis I’ve ever come across”.
Demarcation is needed! If the Insignia is any good (and judging from the latest Corsa I’m sure it is), then Holden should bring the Opel badge to Australia and keep the Australian/Korean products separated from the European ones. This would also help them to raise the profile of the Astra.
Wow thats stunning!
Awesome. Now get it over here and deny ever selling the Epica.
If it does come here, diesel would be needed the most.
Ford underestimated diesel demand with mondeo and now they have a 3 month wait on diesel mondeos!
Ford thought 20% of sales, it more like 40%.
Bring it Holden…:)
Looks good,could it be an epic car?
WTF????
Ford fans are saying they like this, as they should :)
Looks very slick, the rear has a touch too much Astra (but no AU???).
Engine & transmission options bettr than Mondeo and Mazda 6.
6 speed auto diesel with Euro 5 emissions, and it’s sure to have 5 safetys, I’m sure it would sell well against the Passat.
Whoever compares this to an AU should immediately push pencils into their eyes…
Where do I sign?
Im with you Roddy, AU… where??
I think it looks more 3 series than AU. Hope they do bring it back here and Holden get rid of that Korean Epica s**t.
mondeo will get DSG 6 speeds in the next round of updates, i’d say the drivetrain choices are very similar.
The only issue i see is size, it looks to be on eof the smallest…
Do yourselves a favour Holden……..It is time to drop the sad tag of being Australia’s biggest importer/seller (by models) of Korean (tin can) cars.
Holden, this new Insignia is a beautiful thing & should you market it far better than you did the Vectra you will sell more than you ever did with the Vectra. Plus you have the added appeal of euro build quality & safety. Notice how all your competitors are now big on the safety aspects of their equivilent cars. Don’t see you doing that with the tin can Epica.
I know which I would prefer to be driving. Re-invent yourself Holden & start selling quality cars, please.
i dont care about the little cars, but still it does look good. office secretaries, junior estate agents and rude teen girls should beg holden to get this car on our shores.
actually the car is 4.8 metres not exactly small.MAybe holden will also bring over the corsa and next gen meriva aswell.The best idea would be to sell opel as its own brand of euros that would stop to much clashing within holden and then could justify higher prices like VW
It looks and sounds great… Let’s hope that Holden now will start to phase out the Daewoo rubbish.
Nice looker, and will do well in Europe, but when you start thinking about exporting mid-price cars from there to the Antipodies all the costs go upside down. This is because in Aust/NZ we have a market full of Japanese and Korean cars competing with each other, plus subsidised Australian-made cars. Europe is an expensive place to make cars, so unless you can get close to BMW 3 series prices for a mid-sized car you are in deficit. Like you are sending these things to the southern hemisphere where they’re expected to sell for half to two thirds of the BMW price. Ask Ford how much they’re making on Mondeos in Aust/NZ.
Get used to the Epica. As it’s already seven years old in Korea maybe the replacement’s due next year, and it’s bound to be a whole lot better.
overall it does look good but i have to say that the headlights look like the epicas.
This car looks awesome. It would definitely make me look twice if it drove past. So much better than the Epica, which despite its name, isn’t very epic at all. I still prefer the front of the mondeo, but i reckon the sides and rear of the Insignia looks heaps better than the Mondeo. The interior is also a lot better looking than the Mondeo.
I have a 2004 Vectra CDXI 3.2 and my brother has a 2006 2.2 CD Vectra. Both of us have had fantastic performance, economy and reliability with these cars. The CDXI was always praised in near every media avenue (apart fro Top Gear – Clarkson’s Vauxhall phobias). Mazda6 has quality but no real performance (CDXI 0-60 in 7.0-7.5sec), the Mondeo is 150kg heavier than the CDXI. My brother and I wouldn’t touch the tragic Epica brought in by one of those America CEOs who went to the same management school as the Sub Prime Bankers in the States. This new Insignia seems to have much promise especially if it has a 190KW six and a diesel grunter a generation better than what the manual Astras have presently. With quality mid-sizers in vogue and a high Australian dollar I am sure that the exchange rates won’t kill an Australia Insignia as it did the Vectra when it arrived on our shores in 2003 and was 10-20% overpriced – it was always well built and is a second hand bargain right now.
THIS IS A GREAT LOOKING CAR AND LIKE THE OLD VECTRA I BET IT WILL BE AHEAD OF ITS TIME. BUT WHAT I THINK HOLDEN SHOULD DO IS YES IM GOING TO SAY IT KEEP MAKING THE KOREAN CARS BECAUSE THE NEXT SERIES OR GENRATION OF CAR WILL BE GM (HOLDEN, CHEVROLET,OPEL) DESIGNED AND ONLY PUT TOGETHER THERE SO AS A PRICE POINT THING IT WILL WORK. BUT THEN BRING IN ALL IF NOT SOME OF THE OPEL CAR AND SELL THEM AS A PREMIUM LINE ALONG SIDE THE COMMODORE’S AND STATESMAN/CAPRICE CARS AND THAT WAY CUSTOMER CAN PICK WHICH CAR THEY WANT TO BUY AND LIKE TOYOTA HOLDEN WILL HAVE A CAR FOR ALL GROUPS OF PEOPLE. BUT YES THIS NEW VECTRA/INSIGNA I WOULD BUY ONE.
damn!
wish the VE had that style and curves!!
Looks MUCH better!
Holden are giving us Korean made Epicas, Vivas etc because Korean made means cheap. Why doesn’t GM build the Insignia and other new Opels, in Korea, and then we’d have the best of both worlds.. – New desirable European designs produced at an affordable price by the Koreans!
Thats actually a really nice looking car.
You don’t have to be a Bob Lutz to realise that this thing will sell like the proverbial hot cakes. The biggest mistake that GM would make – is not bringing it here for fear that it will seriously cannibalise the Commodore. No fear about it, it will knock the Commo for six all day long, and the Australian public won’t blink an eye, with this delight in the carport.
but ti should be our choice holden had nthe option to make something ike this instead they went for the boofhead route and by not bringing this over here holden is losing alot of saels to the medium segemnt although the next gen of korean cars may look good most people will still not buy them after the current barina crashr esults at least hyandai make korena cars well and dont pretend they are australian.Also the bmw 3 sereis and merc c class outsold the epica here last year
we will need a new vectra in about 1-2 years and it would be great keep the epica and sell the vectra next to it because i know heaps of people who have a zc vectra and wont buy another holden while the epica is there have the best of both worlds like astra and viva
Beaut front, and ok rear and side. Much better than the Epica. Holden should be ashamed of themselves even puting a Holden badge on that POS car. Anyway, anything will a Blue oval for me thanks.
Love Harry
It is a beautiful looking car, i think it looks better than mondeo, the problem holden has is getting it here at a competitive price against competition (liberty,6,mondeo)
because people will not pay a premium price for a car with a hoden badge..
Even if Holden didn’t want to kill off the Epica yet, they should sell both, Honda make it work with two very different medium sized vehicles.
Perhaps Holden’s unwillingness to comment may mean they are atleast thinking about bring the Insignia?
If holden do bring it back they better hope they dont fall apart like the rest of the opel rubbish they have brought over. We don’t sell astra’s or vectra’s at our yard just because to fix them is very expensive and with a warrantable car thats the last thing you need. Also they will need to reduce prices for parts. I mean $2000 for a power steering pump is ridiculous.
as prety and im sure quality as this car is if holden were to bring it over it would be to close in price to the comodore yet not offer size or value that the commy does. fords wonderful euro mondeo really isnt selling that well and holden believe it or not are selling just as many epicas. so from holden point of view why ?
the only reson the mondeo isnt selling is because people are scared of it after the last gen the new one looks better and has better equipment.The insignia could be sold thoguh in just the 4 cylinder option and a high equiped version
I would consider the Insignia as my next car if they could price it around $43K for the luxury V6 version.
I’m considering the new Mazda 6 Luxury sedan for Oct.’09, but the 194KW V6 and six speed auto with all bells and whistles could persuade me to consider this well crafted beauty.
The Epica simply doesn’t compete…
Ford can’t get enough mondeo’s atm. mainly the diesels they out selling the epicas by a fair margin
GM Europe officially ended the model name Vectra several months ago when it announced that the new ‘large’ car for Europe would be the Open Insignia, which you are nbow looking at.
Will Holden bring it here, unlikely as they have a product plan in place that involves building cars in Korea, which have been developed by GM Holden engineers. Eventually they will be okay but at the moment they are mostly rubbish, based on very ancient Daewoo chassis.
Stunning looker that would replace my current CDXI very nicely thanks!
Lol, Simonez bought an Epica.
LOL epicrap
There seems to be a bit of a theme appearing here. Holden take note & give us a real, well made & safe car. Give yoursleves some street cred again, because right now you haven’t got much, being the Australian, Korean car complany that is.
We need quality cars like the Insignia back in the Holden fleet.
It would be nice to see the Insignia here, but unfortunately people won’t buy too many of them because of the price.
I’m sure that GM’s Korean offerings will be better the next time round, but if you’re expecting a huge difference then you will be disappointed. They will still be cheap cars built to a price, but they won’t be total rubbish like the current offerings.
Looks like a try hard mercedes to me, id take a mondeo any day
The front looks a bit like the Epica, Ford Mondeo still has more class, the main question if this Opel was to appear here in OZ which models or how many models will Holden drop like the Epica, Viva etc, in their line up, I think Daewoo is here to stay GM has invested too much money in the Korean company…..
that has got to be the fugliest looking car GM could have. It looks as though they have squashed it end to end and made the roofline go pointy. Side profile is a triangle shape. Bring it to Australasia…it will certainly help Mondeo sales!
This will be a stunner from GM and will impact Toyota Camry and Aurion sales if priced sharp and heaps of extra. Love the look I admit!
I think it will impact all sales on any medium to large car market, it can be appealling to people originally after a falcon/mondeo/Commodore/Camry/Aurion. People will start thinking “if I step down on the size I want a bit I can get this”, judging by the previous models it should be a real winner. And these days the market is more competitive, so price would be a key factor.
in UK the mondeo starts from 16thousand pounds which is 34 thousand dollars here and that is LX spec so we really are good priced if insignia can do this awell.
Whow, what a gorgeous looking car. Please Holden add this to your list. The Holden line up, bar the VE (very very nice) is looking very aged. As much as you rubbish the Epica it is a very competant car. I am currently driving a Camira 2ltr (owned since new) with over 520000 klms on the original engine. This is in very good condition but need to upgrade to a bigger car. I don’t like the fact that the Epica only has a six cylinder option. I would pay the extra money if Holden was to bring this new Insignia out. How about at least matching the base model Mondeo price.
Davidt – not so sure the Vectra name has been binned yet. Vauxhall are likely to use it (a mistake I belive) in the UK.
As for Australia – it could do it but as its larger than the current one and nearly the same size as the Commie and costing nearly as much its not really likely. Sadly you Australians want the best cars but at the cheapest prices, this is where the superior Euro designed product cannot fulfill Holdens profitablilty requirements. Remember you already rejected the current Vectra in favour of a Daewoo. The Mondeo sells cheaper in Australia for the base version than the UK, same will go for the Insignia probably.
Well down GM! The cars profile sorta reminds me of the mercedes-Benz CLS (only the coupe slopping roof). Looks great! Good competitor for the Mondeo too!
Bye, bye epica! And hello Insignia!
And for europe…………..bye good vectra hello BETTER Isignia!
^Except one thing for sure is that it needs indicators on the mirrors.
I drive one of the last ZC Vectras and find it to be a great car. Was quite upset when GMH went the way of the Korean rubbish instead of the facelifted ZC Vectra. Problem was price. The imported it at the wrong price. That’s why it didn’t sell. For those that have driven one will know they are a great car. Like the VXR that HSV released, they could have released a VXR Vectra which is one hell of a machine but in comparison to the Astra, the VXR Vectra would have been up there in Clubsport type costs and just would not have sold.
I originally saw the concept of this car and was disappointed with Opel’s direction but the ‘finished’ product looks the goods.
It’s funny that when rumours that the Crapica was going to replace the Vectra the response was almost universally negative, but Holden DIDN’T LISTEN. The result = poor sales.
When Holden showed off the TT36 (Torana) concept car they got a very positive response but they DIDN’T LISTEN.
Now they have the oportunity to import this new Insignia which has also had a very positive response. I bet they don’t listen because after all, they know better than you what you like.
I still think they should make the new Torana, but I’m only the customer, one who isn’t buying a Crapica.
wile i agree that holden should definatly make the mid sized rwd torana i dont think replacing the vectra with the epica was a really bad decision. vectra was selling poorly any way and was costing a bundle to get in from europe. why not sell just as many cheap epica’s and make a better profit
Hugo: Its not that Holden haven’t listened to peopes reactions over the TT-36 infact The TT-36 Tornana Concept Car; or something that looks very similar in terms of size let alone design is most likely going to get the go ahead for production as Bob Lutz wants it to become the New Pontiac G6 which is expected to be released by 2010-12
The thing is that in because of the size of the size of the
Australian Market it takes up to 8 years for a car to go from design; R&D to Production. Therefore; there are 4-6 years to go
As for importing the Insignia it to is expected to get the go ahead from Holden to replace the poor selling Epica not only because of its size performance and features etc but because HSVs new CEO is pushing for it so they can add a mid sized perfomance sedan to their range. Particularly considering the Insignia is going to have AWD as an option
^FPV would probably follow in and do something similar, probaly with their mondeo.
Adam, forget the VXR Vectra, and go Irmscher instead! (www.irmscher.de/uk).
I don’t understand why people are complaining GMH didn’t listen re:- Torana. The bonnet, headlights, and front doors are straight off the concept (I’m looking at the front cover of Motor January 2008 as I write), and the styling over all is very similar (particularly A pillar and roof line), it’s just toned down and stretched for 4 doors.
Hell, even the panel joint lines are identical!!
Are you lot blind, or what?!
Perhaps it’s me who’s blind, because the vehicle featured on the cover of Motor January 2008 is touted as the Torana concept car (it’s a 2 door coupe), but it is vastly different in design to the 4 door Torana concept car that featured at the various motor shows.
Whoever photoshopped the front cover obviously took all of their styling cues from the new Opel, because as I said previously the two examples are remarkably similar!
holdens chance to downsize maybe even replace the woefull ve worst holden i have ever owned,been buying new holdens since 1977.bring on the insignia.
sell it only as a desiel so it dont kill commmodore out