Good news for Lion fans today as it looks like Holden has made the smart choice to bring Opel’s new Insignia down-under. The move will give Holden a competitive one-two punch in the mid-sized market as the prestige-oriented Insignia will sell alongside the economy-conscious Epica.
Expected to be priced from $35,000-$50,000, the Insignia is intended to do battle against the likes of Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro, Volkswagen Passat, and Ford Mondeo. The Epica is left to duke it out against the Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia Magentis in the lower end of the market.
No word on which Insignia iterations we’ll be receiving, but European buyers can currently select either a 4 door sedan, referred to as a ‘notch’ on the Opel site, or a 5 door lift-back. A wagon is reportedly on the way in the near future.
There’s also choice when it comes to what’s under the skin as Opel will offer FWD or AWD, six-speed manual or automatic gearbox, and seven different engine options. Four petrol engines will be offered ranging from an 86kW 4-cylinder unit to a range topping 194kW V6. The three remaining engines are all 2.0L diesel units, ranging from 82-120kWs.
With customers scrambling for smaller vehicles, the mid-sized segment has boomed in recent years so it’s a wise move for Holden to get in on this action as soon as possible. The Epica has toiled manfully in the lower half of the market but there has been a clear gap when customers have come looking for a Mazda6 competitor. With Holden’s market share slowly diminishing, the Insiginia can’t get here soon enough.
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Very much looking forward to this. Remains to be seen if it will rack up the plaudits that the Mondeo has received in Europe, but it will still be a marked difference in quality over the current non-Commodore Holden offerings.
Agreed. Fingers crossed we see the AWD V6 model.
Smart move from Holden - the Insignia is one great looking car. I’m surprised it isn’t coming to replace the Epica though.
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Is just me or does it seem that cars are so very expensive in Australia!? Considering the current exchange rate between USD and AUD, I figure my math isn’t wrong in saying that that is BMW 5-Series money, Stateside!
In a global sense, absolutely. Cars are phenomenally expensive here. There’s less competition, probably a bit more collusion, and a much smaller market. It’s a problem right across the Australian economy, but, you know, you learn to live with it. Not much choice, really!
It just means that if you live here and drive a BMW, it’s an even bigger status symbol than it would be elsewhere, haha.
Yep, our government has its greedy little mitts in our wallet at every turn - especially when it comes to cars. You can double Insignia money to get yourself a 5 series in the ‘lucky’ country.
Hi folks - Having sat in seven of these at the London Motor show i can say I was impressed. Definitely on a level with the Mondeo IMO a bit more stylish. 20″ wheels available as an option!!!cool. yes theres a 2.8V6 AWD and a 2.0litre petrol AWD. Sadly no diesel AWD. Come GM sort it.
It will be a difficult market in Australia as this is smack bang priced the same as Commies.
And No things are not expensive in Australia. I just priced up a 2.0litre turbo insignia with £1500 worth of extras it came in at £25300 thats Au$52371.
The Vauxhall VXR (your commie)is £37420 about Au$77500 OTR dunno how that compares with your rates for the same vehicle?
its All relative CS.
You can earn roughly the same Pounds over there as you can $ over here. So 25 thousand pounds is pretty cheap on a Prisoner of mother englands wage for a turbo charged midsized sedan.
Mmmm dunno about that Conq - When I worked on the Eastlink in Mel 2005 my salary was only fractionally less than my UK salary. Indeed other folk were similar. Somehow yer dosh went further in Australia. Don’t ask me why I came home it sure wasn’t for the rain. I’ve grown webbed feet.
Dont get me wrong if your spending Aussie $ over there for too long you’ll have a stroke and go broke.
But once I started earning pounds I could live like a king. I was roughly on the same pounds as I was dollars. your taxed less, Food, beer, clothes, flights even lap dances were cheaper. The only thing that wasn’t was accomodation that advantage to australia has long gone.
Haha, the road gangs make the most out of all of us!
Confimed at Sydney Motor Show yesterday by a Snr Holden executive. Holden are expecting the Insignia to be on sale at the end of April/early May 2009. It will debut in Australia at the Melbourne Motor Show 2009 and is expected to attract a more refined customer base to the Holden brand.
Holden wil be wating for the advanced safety features to be released in Europe before launching here with many of the same safety enhancements making their way to the Series II release of the VE Commodore.
Expect both the Std and 4WD models with combinations of the 2L Turbo Diesel, 2L Petrol Turbo and the 2.8L V6 Turbo. Initially both the Sedan and Hatch will be released with the Sportswagon to follow depending on demand.
Opel/Vaulhall will be releasing an Insignia VXR 4WD with the 2.8L Turbo matched to the 6 Speed Manual. It is expected that this model will be relased in Australia in limited numbers about 6-12 months after European release. We can only hope.