#Astra

Some cars have disappeared completely from the collective consciousness because they didn’t last long enough to make an impression.

Despite its decision to shutter Australian auto manufacturing in 2017, General Motors’ Holden subsidiary will continue to engineer, test and develop vehicles in the country.

German automaker Opel revealed the specifications and pricing on its hot new OPC today which has us hoping it might, in some form, make it to the U.S. market.

Opel and Vauxhall have announced the lineup of debuts for the upcoming 2012 Geneva Motor Show, with the highly-anticipated Astra OPC/VXR headlining the booth.

Vauxhall revealed its hot new hatch, looking to take away some of the spotlight from Ford’s Focus and Fiesta ST. The brand new VXR hatchback is the fastest and most powerful production vehicle from Vauxhall yet, boasting 280-hp and 295 lb-ft of torque from a turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder. Vauxhall is also claiming that their new VXR hatchback will have a top speed of 155-mph.

For quite some time now, GM executives in North America have been contemplating distributing Opel’s Astra GTC as a Buick in America. Now there’s a chance that the three-door, sporty vehicle could even be produced in America.

Opel is set to make an impression as this year’s Frankfurt Show which takes place on September 15th to the 25th. Their main focus will be the surprise debut of an experimental car which Opel claims will emphasize the passion for driver-focused vehicles.

Vauxhall’s Astra GTC is poised to take on the European market with its sleek, stylish design and compact body. More importantly, its price point will really give Volkswagen’s Scirocco and Renault’s Megane Coupe some serious competition. Vauxhall announced that their 2012 Astra GTC will be available with four different four-cylinder powerplants, one of them being a diesel. The most powerful will be a 1.6L turbo with 178-hp while their 2.0L diesel will sport 163-hp. Economy seekers will have two choices, a 1.4L, one with 118-hp and another with 138-hp.

Vauxhall has turned to Lotus for help with their chassis engineering on their upcoming Astra VXR hot hatch. The input from Lotus will supplement the work done by GM division Opel, which is testing the car on German roads.

You really don’t want to crash at the Nürburgring. Seems like a pretty obvious statement, right? Well it is, but not necessarily for the reasons you may be thinking. The ‘Ring may be one of the most feared racetracks in the world, with its 13+ miles of twists, turns and elevation changes, but the most frightening part of lapping the most famous course on Earth is the potential damage bill if you hit the wall. Forget fixing your car, that comes second to repairing the Armco barriers you’ve just dented. How big can that bill get? Hit the jump to find out.

With almost 8,000 out of 25,000 votes, Dana Roberts of Gilroy, CA was chosen as the “cheeky” winner of Saturn’s “Kiss my Astra” photo contest. As the Grand Prize Winner Dana was awarded a brand new Saturn Astra.

Several other prizes were also awarded, with $300 gift cards going to the first five runners up, and all remaining finalists receiving a $100 gift card.

The contest was kicked off earlier this year with Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Bob Lutz submitting the first photo.

See Bob Lutz kissing Astra, after the jump:

[Source ImSaturn.com]