Vauxhall’ s star quality
VAUXhALL has unveiled all-electric versions of its popular Astra hatchback and estate cars — with order books opening in the new year. First deliveries of the zero- emissions Astra electric and Astra Sports Tourer electric — set to be one of the first all-electric estates on the market — will be made in June.
Their arrival increases Vauxhall’s pure electric passenger car line-up to six models, as the British marque accelerates towards becoming an electric-only manufacturer from 2028.
it also means the Astra will be available in four powertrains: electric and plug-in hybrid, as well as conventional petrol and diesel. Sportier GSe electrified variants of the plug-in hybrid arrive in early 2023, with fully electric variants to follow.
Prices for the all-electric Astras are expected to start at about £40,000 for the hatchback and £42,000 for the estate.
Both are powered by a 156hp (114kW) electric motor and a
54kWh battery, giving them a range of up to 258 miles from one
charge. Acceleration from rest to 62mph takes about 8 seconds and top speed is 105 mph. The 54kWh battery is made up of 102 battery cells housed in 17 modules.
Charging to 80 per cent takes 30 minutes with a 100kW DC rapid charger and is expected to take seven-and-a-half hours on a domestic wall-box. All models have a three-phase 11kW AC on-board charger as standard.
The Astra electric and Astra
Sports Tourer electric have ergonomic Active Sports seats certified by Germany’s AGR (Campaign for healthier Backs).
Driver aids include a 10in digital instrument cluster and 10in central display, a large intelligent head-up display unit and ‘hey Vauxhall’ natural voice recogni-tion. There’s 516 litres of luggage space with the rear seats up, or 1,553 litres when folded down.
Safety features include: front
collision warning with automatic emergency braking; lane-keeping assist; and sleepiness detection.
Available also as a petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid with up to 43 miles of electric- only range,
the current Astra hatchback range starts at £25,420.
The Astra Sports Tourer is priced from £ 26,440 for the Design 1.2T 110PS and goes up to £39,635 for the GS Line 1.6T 180hp plug-in hybrid.