THE BEST of British - that's Vauxhall's proud boast for its all-new Astra which has broken cover this week ahead of its official launch in the autumn.
With a British designer and a made-in-England tag, Vauxhall is hoping its latest family compact will be the car which finally topples Ford's Focus from its customary place at the top of the UK's best sellers list.
It's the sixth generation of the Astra in 30 years and the new car's design team was led by Mark Adams, the British designer responsible for last year's European Car of the Year-winning Vauxhall Insignia.
The five door design is all-together more elegant - the three door is expected to be distinctly more sporty and will be launched later - and makes use of many of the design features found in the larger Insignia.
'We're continuing with the same premium design cues as the Insignia, inside and out of the car,' says Adams, vice president of GM Europe Design. 'However, the main design themes needed an individual execution to avoid 'cloning' the model ranges.'
Underpinning the new bodywork is an all-new chassis with a 71 millimetre-longer wheelbase, benefiting both passenger comfort and packaging. Wider tracks front and rear feature, as does a new rear axle design which, according to Vauxhall, not only improves stability and agility, but takes the Astra's ride comfort into a different league.
Enhancing the Astra's dynamic potential still further is the option of Vauxhall's FlexRide system, a rarity in this sector which offers drivers three unique damper settings - standard, sport and tour - while being fully adaptive to changes in driving style and cornering speed.
The highlight of the new Astra's powertrain line-up will be an all-new, 140PS turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol unit, which will boast reduced emissions/fuel consumption, while retaining the performance of a larger capacity vehicle. The 1.4T will join three further petrol engines, which range from 100PS to 180PS, and four diesel units ranging from 95PS to 160PS.
Vauxhall is keeping the public waiting for a glimpse of the new Astra's interior but promises it will feature big improvements in packaging, seat design and in-cabin storage. Mark Adams' unique wrap-round dash treatment will also appear in the Astra, but with a different take on that found in the Insignia.
'The only part of the Astra which isn't new is its name,' says Andy Gilson, Vauxhall's Marketing Director. 'And that name currently accounts for around 30 per cent of all Vauxhall's car sales, with the five-door hatch taking 60 per cent of those sales alone - so it's important to lead with this body style.
'Not only is the Astra a crucial new model for Vauxhall, but we're confident that its blend of dynamic design, new-to-class technology and immense driver appeal will attract an even broader spectrum of buyers in this sector.'
Like its predecessor, the latest Astra will be built at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant on Merseyside and will undoubtedly follow in the outgoing models tyreprints as the UK's best-selling, British-built car. Whether it will be able to oust the all-conquering Ford Focus as Britain's outright best-seller is another matter.
Motorists will have the chance to vote with their chequebooks when it goes on sale in UK showrooms at the end of the year following its debut in five-door hatchback form at the Frankfurt motor show in September.