The next-generation Vauxhall Insignia will be a very different model to the car it replaces.
Vauxhall-Opel CEO Florian Huettl said at the Munich motor show that the company was “quite advanced in our conceptual work on a replacement” and that it would launch after 2025 as an all-electric model.
“It will not be a classic D-segment car as the old Insignia was. We’ll develop it further as the market develops. The D-segment cars that we’ve made for many years will take a different shape that will be aerodynamic, they will give versatility and the charging capacity that we need. They won’t be standard.”
Autocar understands the next Insignia will be a more rakish and premium crossover model that will be higher-riding than the previous model but not a full-blown SUV crossover. It is likely to be similar in concept to the likes of the Peugeot 408 and Citroen C5X.
Underpinning the next Insignia, a name that is unlikely to be used for the new car given the limited visual relationship between the two cars, will be the new Stellantis STLA M (medium) architecture.
This will be one of two EV architectures used for future Vauxhalls, alongside the new STLA S (small) underpinnings. The STLA S will be used for the likes of the Corsa and Mokka in the future and the STLA M the Astra and up.
Huettl said these architectures would allow for up to 435-mile range for EVs, 25 minutes charging from 20-80% battery capacity, improved weight, all-wheel drive from a second electric motor at the rear, and lower costs, with a €25,000 target price for the likes of an electric Corsa, a price that doesn’t include any government incentives.
Huettl reiterated Vauxhall‘s plans to launch cars that only had EV powertrains from 2025 and for all its models to be EV-only by the end of 2028. The final two models that will be launched with multiple powertrain options, including EVs, will come next year with replacements for the Crossland and Grandland.
While Huettl said that a Corsa would always be called a Corsa, he hinted that the Crossland and Grandland replacements may not keep those names. Spy pictures of the Crossland suggest a completely different size and positioning for that model within the B-segment crossover sector.
Mystery surrounds any production intent for the Vauxhall Experimental concept that made its public debut at the Munich show, with Huettl saying that design elements of the car would feature on future models rather than the concept inspiring a production model as a whole. “It’s a model that sets a path to a new generation of Opels [Vauxhalls]”, he said.
This further cools expectations that Vauxhall had been planning to launch a sporty crossover called Manta with the same footprint of an Astra, as the Experimental seemed to show.
