Astra has been tipped as making a local market return sometime in 2026.
Set to be revealed in the coming days or weeks, Opel has released the first official teaser image of the facelifted Astra, four years after its world reveal.
What to expect?
The first generation developed under Stellantis ownership after The Blitz and UK sister brand Vauxhall’s offloading by General Motors in 2017, the internally named Astra L will continue in five-door hatch and estate bodystyles, but “sharper, more technical and even more eye-catching than ever”.
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Based on Stellantis’ EMP2 platform, the respective updates will draw heavily from the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo concept shown earlier this year, which will include a restyled Opel Vizor and Compass grille, and accordingly, an overall “slimmer face”.
For the first time in the nameplate’s 46-year history, an illuminated logo will be made available, similar to that of its arch rival, the Volkswagen Golf.
“For decades, the Astra has stood for what distinguishes Opel: German engineering that combines emotions with proven practicality and top technologies for everyone,” Opel CEO, Florian Huettl, said in a statement.
“The Astra is ‘made in Germany’ through and through – designed, engineered and made in Rüsselsheim. Now we are taking the next big step with our compact class best-seller”.
Same engines likely
Underneath, neither the hatch nor the estate, known as the Sports Tourer, is expected to receive any added power.
This would mean retaining the present combustion engines: the three-cylinder 1.2-litre PureTech turbo-petrol, outputting 81kW/205Nm and 96kW/230Nm, and the 1.5-litre Blue CDTI turbodiesel, rated at 96kW/300Nm.
On the electrified front, a pair of mild-hybrids feature, both modelled around the 1.2 with outputs of 100kW/230Nm and 107 kW/230Nm.
Finally, the plug-in hybrid combines the four-cylinder 1.6-litre PureTech turbo-petrol with a 17.2-kWh battery pack in two states of tune: 132 kW and 165 kW in the performance GSE.
Second only to the GSE, the Astra Electric delivers 115kW/270Nm thanks to a 54-kWh battery pack powering a single front-axle-mounted electric motor.
Returning to South Africa
More crucially, the debut of the facelift Astra could spell its return to South Africa.
This, after Opel’s head of operations for Africa and the Middle East, Falk Zimpel, told The Citizen at Stellantis’ annual Media Connect event in July that the investigation into the Astra’s comeback had reached “an advanced stage”.
While no other details have since emerged, Zimpel did hint at an arrival sometime in 2026.
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