There could be room at the top-end, though.
Spy shots tend to be a little hit and miss. Today’s set of shots appear to be a solid hit though, with spy photographers managing to capture what appears to be a development mule for a hotter, higher-power Holden Astra hatch making its rounds near an R&D facility. Wearing very little disguise, we’re able to see almost all of the minor revisions being considered to mark out this warm-hatch from its lesser siblings.
The Holden Astra seen here wears revised bumpers on either end, along with a mildly revised grille and a dash of red paint on the front. Also seen is a small badge on the grille too, though we cannot make out at this distance what it says. Like the front, the rear has also seen subtle revisions too, with fixed twin-tailpipes and another helping of red outlining the rear diffuser element.
Curiously though, the mule seen here is riding on steel wheels rather than the large, low-profile rubbers we’d expect it too, which do an excellent job at hiding the red brake callipers that live behind them (you have to squint to see them, but they're there). We’re guessing the steelies employed here are just to protect the car while it’s rolling through the property (imagine curbing a set of prototype alloys).
It’s suggested by online forums and discussions that this hotter Astra variant will see propulsion from an uptuned version of the 1.6-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine that is currently used in the lineup, with the wick turned up to somewhere between 150kW and 170kW of grunt on tap. Comparatively, the existing engine produces a modest 147kW and 300Nm, so we’re guessing that if this ‘more powerful’ model can’t get too many more kilowatts, it may get more twist.
There’s a lot of discussion about what badge this car will eventually wear, considering that the 170kW ceiling power prediction is still some way off the 206kW that we saw from the last Astra VXR (which came from a larger 2.0-litre turbo-four). As such, this might be badged as a ‘GSI,’ a more powerful but otherwise similar car to the rest of the range, leaving enough room at the top for a proper VXR with even more performance at its disposal. Ultimately, the matter of badging rests with Holden’s intent on bringing to market a true hot hatch, as it’s entirely likely that this Astra-whatever will cap the lineup.
On this subject, only time will tell as to what this car will shape up to be. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a VXR either way, though.
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