2013 Astra Convertible Spy
We’ve got spy video of the new Astra Convertible, which is based on the Astra GTC and eschews the hard top of the old Astra CC. Arrives 2013.
Vauxhall and Opel have now managed to reveal much of the new Astra Model range – with the Astra GTC debuting at Frankfurt last month being the latest – but there’s still the drop-top Astra Convertible to come.
The 2013 Astra Convertible – which may arrive as the new Vauxhall Calibra – has been caught on video testing ahead of an expected debut at Paris in 2012, before going on sale across Europe in 2013.
Looking very much like the GTC with a cloth top, the new Astra Convertible loses the tin-top of the old model and gets a folding canvas top in the name of economy, lightness and dynamics.
Engine options across the Astra Convertible range are likely to be borrowed from the GTC, which will mean petrols and diesels from 118bhp to 178bhp, but with the hope of a 300bhp VXR version in the future.
Suspension is also expected to come from the GTC, which will mean Insignia-derived underpinnings with wider track, HiPerStrut front suspension and a Watt’s link rear axle, promising some decent dynamics for the convertible Astra despite the RSJs bolted on to keep the front and back together.
The man from Vauxhall has confessed that the Astra Convertible will be a halo model for the range and will, in all probability, get a different name. Vauxhall Calibra is one possibility, as is Manta.
Or maybe the Astra Convertible will be the 2013 Vauxhall Calibra and the 2013 Opel Manta?
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