New Opel Astra Sports Tourer Unveiled - Should Buick Bring it to the States?

[Updated Gallery] This here sleek-looking station wagon model is the all-new Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) Astra Sports Tourer and it has been revealed ahead of its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show on October 2. It is set to go on sale across Europe in November.

The exterior design of the Astra Sports Tourer brings to mind the Insignia ST, and that's a positive thing. Unlike its boxy predecessor, Opel's styling team led by Mark Adams opted for a much more 'lifestyle estate' design with a more raked roofline and a less perpendicular tailgate.

The Sports Tourer shares its footprint with its five-door sibling, with a similar 2,685 mm-long wheelbase and front and rear tracks of 1544 and 1558 mm respectively.

GM's European unit has yet to publish photos of the interior, but more or less the design will be the same as on the five-door hatchback version of the Astra. Opel said that the cabin has 75 liter of storage space or 50 percent more than in the previous generation station wagon.

The new Astra ST also features a new FlexFold Rear Seat system which allows each section of the 60/40 split-fold rear seatbacks to be lowered at the press of a button located in the side walls of the cargo compartment.

With the rear seat backs lowered, the cargo load length is increased to 1835 mm, 28 mm more than in the current Astra wagon. According to Opel, the load volume of the ST can be adjusted between 500 and 1550 liters. In comparison, the VW Golf Variant provides between 560 and 1,550 liters of load space.

In Europe, the Astra Sports Tourer's powertrain line-up will comprise of eight gasoline and diesel engines, ranging in power from 95HP to 180HP, including a new 1.4-liter Turbo petrol with 140-horsepower and a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with 160-horsepower that returns a combined fuel consumption of 5.1 lt/100km (equal to 46.1mpg US and 55.4mpg UK) with 134 g/km CO2 emissions.

GM has no official plans to bring the Astra Sports Tourer to the States. However, since it's essentially a station wagon version of the recently revealed in China Buick Excelle that is scheduled for a US-launch next year, we couldn't resist asking you if GM should consider to offer the Sports Tourer in the States. Have your say in the comments below.

Opel Astra Sports Tourer

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Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer