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Vauxhall Astra

The Astra was Vauxhall Motors' first front wheel drive[?] car produced for sale. It was launched in 1979 and is still manufactured in an updated form today. The Astra is also built in Germany as the Opel Kadett[?], and in Australia as the Holden Astra.

All models were designed as three or five door hatchbacks. The Astra originally superseded the Chevette, but the first models were sold alongside the Chevette. The Astra was a wholly new design, not derived from any of the earlier Vauxhall models. It featured a new engine design with an overhead camshaft[?], aluminium alloy cylinder head, hydraulic valve lifters, with capacities of 1300 and 1600cc. Later, an 1800cc version was introduced for the Mk 1 GTE model. For the Mk 2, capacities were raised to 1400cc, 1800cc and a new 2000cc engine, again used on the Mk 2 GTE. In addition, a 16-valve twin-cam version of the 2000cc engine was developed for a high performance GTE model, yielding 156 bhp in manufactured form. This range of engines was also used for later models of the Cavalier[?], Nova[?], Vectra[?], etc.

The Mk 2 Astra was also developed into a more conventional "three box" design with a boot (trunk), and badged as the Belmont[?].



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