Vauxhall Launches Styling and Lifestyle Accessories for Insignia

Opel's British counterpart, Vauxhall, has released a new range of styling and "lifestyle" accessories for the Insignia sedan and estate. Most interestingly, buyers can choose between two different aerodynamic packages for the Insignia, the in-house designed VXR styling kit comprising of a rear spoiler, front lower spoiler, rear skirt, and side sills and one from Irmscher that includes a cross hatch grille, front lower spoiler, rear wing spoiler, side sills and rear bumper sports inserts , plus 18 inch "Turbo Star" alloy wheels.

Other available accessories from Vauxhall's dealers range from velour carpet mats at £40.08 and a set of tailored mudflaps at £73.38 to an aluminium base carrier to securely locate roof-mounted equipment such as mountain bikes, windsurf boards and skis, and a 450 litre roof box for extra luggage capacity.

High-Performance Opel Insignia OPC with 320HP and AWD Scooped at Official Event

British car magazine EVO has posted a grainy photograph of what appears to be a prototype model of the forthcoming high-performance Insignia OPC, or as it will called in the UK, the Vauxhall Insignia VXR. We're not entirely sure, but from what we can tell, the picture was taken at some sort of internal gathering of top Opel executives. Aside from the new front bumper that is apparently inspired from the Opel GTC Concept coupé that was previewed at the 2007 Geneva motor show, the OPC prototype also seems to feature wider wheel arches than the standard Insignia.

Details of what is hiding under the Insignia OPC's hood have not been disclosed, but is said that the Opel's performance saloon will get a modified version of the firm's twin-turbocharged 2.8-liter V6 producing around 320HP matched with the latest Haldex AWD differential.

It is expected -but not yet confirmed- that Opel will unveil a prototype version of the car at the Geneva Motorshow in March with the production model following at the Frankfurt show in September.

Source: EVO , Via: Autoblog.it

Opel Officially Receives 'European Car of Year' Award for the Insignia

It may look like a ceremony for the UEFA cup winner, but in fact, what you're seeing here in this picture is the presentation of the European "Car of the Year 2009" award for the Opel Insignia to GM Europe's President, Carl-Peter Forster. The ceremony took place on Monday 26th, January, at Opel's plant in Russelsheim, Germany, that produces the Insignia. The final results for the 2009 COTY were announced last November. Opel's Insignia claimed victory with a total of 321 points followed by the new Ford Fiesta and the VW Golf VI that gathered 320 and 223 points respectively.

2009 Buick Regal Mega Gallery: The Opel Insignia Heads to China

As strange and absurd as it may sound to our North American readers, the new Opel Insignia is sold in China under the Buick Regal nameplate. And how about here in the States, we hear many of you asking. Well, the Insignia was supposed to arrive in the form of the next generation Saturn Aura in a year or two, but GM's economic woes have reportedly put a hold on the U.S. market debut of the sleek looking sedan until further notice. If you want our opinion, we would have found it more rational for GM to introduce Opel's models under the Buick logo and do away with Saturn, but then again, we're no high-rank execs...

Back to the new China-only Buick Regal, the mid-size sedan differs from its German counterpart only in a few cosmetic details like the front grille, the side air vents and the exterior mirrors.

On sale now in China, the new Regal sedan is offered with two 4-cylinder petrol engines, a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter unit with 165HP and a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine producing 217HP. Both engines are matted to a standard six-speed manual gearbox with Buick announcing 0 to 100km/h (62mph) times of 9.8 and 7.8 seconds for the Regal 2.4L and 2.0T respectively.

Source: Buick , Via: Autoblog.com