Aiming to get ahead of the rest

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 12, 2003

The new Vauxhall Astra represents not just a radical change in design direction, it confirms a new ethos in a company which has hardly been noted for an adventurous styling streak in recent years.

There's a tacit admission within GM in Europe that its design policy in the 80s and 90s was way off target.

Says Smith: "We want to play a leading role in European automobile styling again, like we did in the 1970s."

Corporate speak. What he's really saying is ...we've not been very good at it for the last 20 years or so and if we don't get better, we'll be struggling to survive.

A bit strong, perhaps, but when did you last see a Vauxhall design that really made you sit up and say "Wow"?

You really do have to go back to the 70s and cars like the Chevette, the Astra's spiritual forebear, the droop-snoop Firenza or the Opel GT to find GM designs which stood out from the crowd.

But at last the new Astra heralds a whole new era in which style will be king.

"With our new design language we're going to bring the most dynamic and expressive vehicles to the market in every segment," says Smith.

The new Astra utters the first words of that new language and Smith, his young team and their GM bosses are clearly proud of it. So much so that they flew Europe's leading motoring journalists to a design workshop at Russelsheim to explain the thinking and processes behind it.

"Good design should be compelling, involving and explainable," insists Martin Smith.

"This car is lean and athletic," he says. "There's no fat."

Well quite. In fact, there's a lot more to it than that. A great deal of thought and innovative planning has gone into getting this latest Astra just right.

Thousands of hours have been spent creating computer models and working in virtual reality studios to perfect the styling and in creating a harmonious design both inside and out.

"We use modern technology, special software and access high performance computers," says Smith.

The results are impressive. The new Astra looks the part and will stand out from the compact family car crowd when it hits the roads next spring.