irishcar.com

18 February 2002: Opel’s new Vectra will go on sale in Ireland in June, though the car will be introduced to the Irish motoring public at the Motor Show section of the Ideal Homes Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin, on St Patrick’s weekend.

No prices are yet available for the car in Ireland, though the entry level versions will sell in Germany for 20,250 euros. Given Ireland’s penal VRT system, the Irish prices are likely to be considerably higher (ED NOTE: talk to your hoping-to-be-relected TD).

In Germany, that entry-level price is a little greater than for the equivalent outgoing model, but European brand manager Rainer Treitz told Irish journalists last night that if the value of extra equipment is taken on board, the price actually works out at less than the outgoing Vectra.

The new car will be competing in a segment which represents some 25% of all Irish car sales, and will be head to head with the very successful Ford Mondeo and Renault’s Semperit Irish Car of the Year award-winning Laguna II. The upcoming new Nissan Primera will also be competing strongly in the segment.

The new Vectra will come with six airbags as standard as well as a completely innovative chassis system which the company says is a key safety feature. The car also features a special electronic stability programme which advances that particular idea to apply braking pressure to up to three wheels rather than the more normal two when it cuts in to deal with an emergency situation.

Engines for Ireland will be 1.8-, 2.2- and 3.2-litre petrol and a 2-litre turbodiesel. Transmissions will be 5-speed manual and 5-speed automatic initially, which will be added to later by a CVTronic selectable 6-speed unit for the 1.8-litre engine, as well as a 6-speed manual.

The car will be available in a 4-door saloon and a 5-door coupe-style GTS. Later additions to the range will include a Signum luxury coupe/MPV car similar to Renault’s upcoming Vel Satis in concept, and a wagon which will have almost the same capacity as the current Omega wagon.

Short initial driving of the car shows it to be much larger in feel than the outgoing vehicle, which was Europe’s top-selling car in its segment between 1996/1998. It is substantially larger than its predecessor, and takes the model up a considerable notch to arguably at least match the benchmarkers in the segment.

There will be three specification levels when the new Vectra comes to Ireland - Basic, Comfort and Elegance.

Irish prices will be announced next weekend. Watch this part of cyberspace. Meantime, current entry level prices for the outgoing Vectra are 22,200 euros, but the 1.8-litre starts at 25,100 euros. Queried about the absence of a 1.6-litre entry-level in the new car, Opel people here said even the Irish market had shown recently that this isn’t a problem in the segment, which has - like all others - grown in size and specification.