Holden has been keen to iterate all of its freshly imported products aren’t merely wardrobe changes. Rather than slap a Holden badge on a car and call it Australian, the brand hopes to continue offering a car made for Australian conditions by completing extensive testing and development of all new models in the country.
The 2017 Holden Astra sedan is no exception to that feeling and the brand has announced it has finally finished its time at the Lang Lang proving ground.
Engineers state the Astra sedan was developed with a comfortable, fun to drive attitude, but also ensure the Astra sedan won’t flounder over typical Australian conditions. In the process of development, 20,000 km (nearly 12,500 miles) of road were covered. Holden says these roads weren’t pretty, either. Instead, dirt, gravel, railroads and country backroads were the Astra sedan’s challenge.
If the 2017 Holden Astra sedan looks familiar, that’s because it is. Especially to North Americans. Based on the D2XX platform, the Astra sedan is very much a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze, which means the car benefits from weight savings and a more efficient drag coefficient.
And that’s good news for Holden in general. The 2017 Chevrolet Cruze most recently scored an upset by being named the top compact car on sale in the United States, outdoing Honda, Toyota, Ford and anyone playing in the compact segment.
While the Astra sedan has finished its time at Lang Lang, it’s not ready just yet; Holden states the Astra sedan will be ready to launch during mid-2017.
Comment
So the question has to be asked.. Where does the sale of GM Opel to the PSA group leave GM Holden? Will the next Commodore now be related to a Peugeot 508? (Not necessarily a bad thing) Will we see a Holden badged Citroen? Will manufacturing now have to return to Adelaide because the PSA group weren’t told about this little country down South called Australia that they’ll now have to build cars for.. Will be interesting to see how this unfolds.