Other attributes
The Opel Astra (ˈoːpəl ˈɑːstra) is a compact car designed and manufactured by the German company Adam Opel AG since 1991. Astra (Latin for “star”) is a continuation of the Opel Kadett line of models, launched back in 1962.
The Opel Astra is also produced under the Vauxhall Astra brand in the UK by Vauxhall, which sells modified Opel right-hand drive cars in the local market, the Buick Excelle XT in China, and the Chevrolet Astra/Vectra in Latin America. For the US and Canadian markets, the car was badged as the Saturn Astra until General Motors retired the "Saturn" badge in 2009. The Holden Astra, produced for the Australian market, was also discontinued in 2009 due to its uncompetitiveness due to the high price caused by currency differences. In 2012, the car returned to the Australian market under the Opel Astra brand, but sales were discontinued a year later. In 2015, sales of three-door versions of the car under the Holden Astra brand began. The Chevrolet Vectra (Astra H) produced for Latin America was discontinued and replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze.
Origin of name
The Astra name originated with Vauxhall, which built and sold the Opel Kadett D (1979-1984) and Opel Kadett E (1984-1991) as the Vauxhall Astra. Subsequently, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, GM Europe standardized the model nomenclature (the names of all passenger cars began to end with the letter "a"), which led to the fact that the models bore the same name, regardless of who it was sold an Opel or Vauxhall car.
By 2011, 4 generations of Opel Astra had already been released. As is customary for all Opel car models, each generation is designated by a letter of the Latin alphabet. Opel's official position is that the Astra is a logical continuation of the Opel Kadett line, so the first generation of the Opel Astra is referred to as the Opel Astra F.