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Vauxhall Astra GTC (2011) more official pictures

By Mark Hamilton

First Official Pictures

07 June 2011 00:01

This is the Vauxhall Astra GTC, Luton's new three-door rival for the Renault Megane and VW Scirocco. It's an important car for GM, expected to take up to 20% of all Astra orders, and the UK is traditionally the biggest market in Europe for the three-door Astra.

Vauxhall Astra GTC: design and packaging

The Astra GTC may be related to the existing Vauxhall Astra five-door hatchback, but the GTC is a substantially different design. The only exterior features shared with the five-door are the door handles and aerial on the roof. The GTC's body panels are completely different, and the GTC's platform dimensions differ too. It's 10mm longer in the wheelbase, 40mm wider in front track, and 30mm wider in rear track compared with the Astra five-door hatch.

Vauxhall design chief Mark Adams and his team have maintained the style from the GTC Paris concept. The GTC differs from the Astra hatch and Sports Tourer estate in its interpretation of current Vauxhall design cues: the 'blade' upward-curving feature line on the bodyside is now oriented towards the front wing of the car (in the other Astras it curves up at the rear) and the GTC has a different grille, headlight and tail-light treatment along with the coupe roofline. Adams is proud of the design, and its balance between style and utility: 'we didn’t want emotion to get in the way of functionality. The Astra GTC still needed to be clever, affordable and practical.'