Opel Astra GTC

The new Astra GTC three-door sports compact stands out with sharp design and driving capabilities. On the outside, sculpted shapes with precise accents add drama to clean, sweeping coupé lines. And on the road, all Astra GTC versions benefit from a premium front axle layout with HiPerStrut - High Performance Strut - that ideally combines with the clever Opel patented Watt's link rear axle to provide unmatched stability and the sharpest driving precision.

"The Astra GTC is the sporty member of the Opel family," says Karl-Friedrich Stracke, Chief Executive Officer of Opel/Vauxhall. "It has been designed and engineered in our facilities in Rüsselsheim to be a highly desirable sports coupé with invigorating driving performance while remaining affordable, roomy and flexible. We're convinced that it will bring a breath of fresh air into the sports compact segment".

The GTC is the ultimate Astra in design and driving dynamics. Accounting for 15 to 20% of all Astra sales, it will further energize the successful Opel compact family, which increased its segment share in from 8.3% in 2009 to 11.4% in 2010.

Muscular Body Design

The 2012 Opel Astra GTC is very much inspired by the Opel GTC Paris Concept revealed last fall at the Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris. A compact, sporty five-seater with coupé appeal and dramatic proportions, the Astra GTC has a unique design: it does not share any exterior element with other members of the Astra family, except for the outside rear view mirror housing and the rod antenna. Six of the seven 17- to 20-inch wheel designs on offer are also GTC-only features.

"We wanted the Astra GTC to be the ultimate expression of Opel's design language 'sculptural artistry meets German precision' and to embody our passion for the automobile," says Mark Adams, Vice President, Opel/Vauxhall Design. "However, we did not want emotion to overshadow functionality: the Astra GTC is a clever and affordable dream car."

In profile, the designers have maximized drama by limiting the amount of lines: just three create tension and sculpt the shape of the Astra GTC. A fine, crisp line that sweeps downward from the front door to the bottom of the rear fender and energizes the body side, the Opel signature blade is introduced in the same direction as in the Insignia. A second line encapsulates the door handle and stretches to the rear, emphasizing the GTC's dramatic stance by spreading the surfaces to a fine undercut and a broad shoulder. The third line following the clean, sporty silhouette of the roof is finished in chrome and accentuates the window graphic, which guides the eye to the sharply integrated spoiler.

The clean front features Opel's typical centerline crease and is accented by intense, slim eagle-eye designed headlamps featuring "wing-shaped" daytime running light graphics. These act as parentheses around the refined chrome emblem bar and the separate, dramatic trapezoidal grille, which is placed lower for a race track feel that hints at a sporty character.

The shoulder section is the most dramatic area of the Astra GTC. Its powerful design gives the car imposing proportions and a very purposeful road presence in highlighting its low, wide road-holding stance. The line from the C-pillar slides into the tail and curls around into the rear spoiler, which is ingeniously integrated into the continuing roof line. Optional LEDs highlight the stretched "wing-shaped" motif of the tail lamps.