World gets first look at the new Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport

Vauxhall’s long-awaited new Insignia has finally been revealed.

The Insignia Grand Sport replaces the Insignia, which itself replaced the Vectra, which replaced the Cavalier.

Clear? Good. It has a sleek new look and is 55mm longer than the car it replaces. But perhaps more significantly, there’s 92mm of extra space between the front and rear wheels, which means more room for those inside.

Despite those bulkier dimensions, Vauxhall claims the new Insignia Grand Sport weighs around 10% less than its predecessor due to the use of lightweight materials.

This in turn should help it drink less fuel and pump out less CO2, although we won’t know how much less until closer to the car going on sale next summer.

The engine range is made up exclusively of turbocharged fourcylinder units and is crowned by a 247bhp 2.0-litre engine.

This unit is hooked up to a new eight-speed automatic gearbox and an all-wheel drive system.

The only new engine in the range is a 1.5-litre petrol unit, which has outputs of 163bhp and 184lb ft, and it drives through a six-speed manual gearbox.

A whole host of driver assistance systems are also offered on the new Insignia Grand Sport, including a head-up display, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and lane departure warning systems and a rear cross-traffic alert that lets you know if you’re about to reverse into oncoming traffic when leaving a parking space.

The Insignia Grand Tourer will go on display at the Geneva Motor Show in March and is expected to go on sale some time next summer.

This five-door hatchback version will arrive first, with an estate and rugged Cross Tourer model following in due course to complete the range.

Prices for the hatchback are to remain broadly unchanged from today’s Insignia range, with an entry-level price of about £18,000.

Picture: Newspress. The Insignia Grand Sport is roomier than the Insignia and much lighter.