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| 2001-01-11 | |
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January 11, 2001
Rüsselsheim/Zurich. In the year 2000, more than one million cars and component sets based on the vehicle architecture of the Astra left the assembly lines. In Europe, Opel/Vauxhall set a production record of 946,960 units. The members of the Astra family are built in six European plants: Bochum (Germany), Eisenach (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Ellesmere Port (U.K.) and Gliwice (Poland) and the Bertone facility in Grugliasco (Italy). As part of this record, Bochum (318,342) and Ellesmere Port (169,222) achieved all-time highs and Antwerp (329,257) had its best result since 1992. Worldwide production exceeded one million vehicles in 2000, including more than 60,000 Astras built by GM do Brazil and 8,446 Zafiras from the all-new facility in Rayong (Thailand), where production started in May 2000. "Excellent product quality and a large variety of body styles are the pillars of this success," says Astra Brand Manager Klaus Leydecker. The Astra range has a wide choice of vehicle configurations. Customers can choose from seven different Astra-based variants, including three-door and five-door hatchback, four-door notchback, station wagon, delivery van, the compact van Zafira and the recently introduced Astra Coupé. Based on component sets produced at Antwerp, the Coupé is built at Carrozzeria Bertone in Grugliasco near Turin (Italy). Its top-of-the-line version comes with a new turbo engine (147kW/190hp), which accelerates the sporty compact from 0 to 100 km/h in just 7.5 seconds and enables a top speed of 245 km/h. This spring, Opel/Vauxhall is going to add another member to the Astra family, the elegant Cabrio, which is also built at the Bertone plant. New model variants are constantly making the Astra range more attractive. A good example is the Astra Eco 4, a car with an all-new direct-injection diesel engine (55kW/75 hp) that consumes only 4.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (MVEG standard). However, Opel engineers have not only been working on enhancements in the diesel area: For the model year 2001, the range of Astra powerplants has been completely renewed. All gasoline engines are now more powerful and already comply with the Euro 4 exhaust emission standard, which comes into force in 2005. 1999 was already a European record production year for the Astra family, with 912,517 units, including 150,064 Zafira compact vans. Due to the huge success of the versatile seven-seater Zafira, output in Bochum was increased to 217,715 units in 2000. | |
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