Mad About Cars

The new Vauxhall Insignia has been voted the 2009 Car of The Year by 59 international motoring journalists. The news comes as a great boost for Vauxhall, who release the car amidst serious financial difficulties for its parent company General Motors.

The new car is due to be launched shortly, replacing the Vauxhall Vectra, with Vauxhall hoping it will lose the ‘repmobile’ image that plagued its predecessor. The Insignia narrowly beat the hotly tipped new Ford Fiesta, receiving 321 points to the Fiesta’s 320, whilst the new Volkswagen Golf was a distant third on 223 points. Vauxhall’s victory in the poll is only their third victory in the history of the European Car of The Year since its inception in 1964, with the only other victorious cars being the 1985 Vauxhall Astra and the 1988 Vauxhall Carlton.

Vauxhall will be hoping that the new Insignia will be as successful as its other two Car of the Year victors, both of which went onto be sales successes. This is further highlighted by the fact that not all cars that have won the prestigious competition have gone onto be popular with the general public.

Whilst many cars, such the Ford Mondeo (winner in 1994) and the Peugeot 405 (winner in 1988) went on to be huge sales success, others, such as the Renault 9 (winner in 1982) and the Fiat Brava (winner in 1996) were less fondly remembered by the public.

Whether the Insignia will be successful remains to be seen. But the victory of European Car of The Year will be a huge marketing coup for Vauxhall as the first of the new Insignias hit UK showrooms soon.

Vauxhall are hoping their new family sized car, the Insignia will help the brand to once again be at the forefront in the sales charts.

The new model replaces the aged Vectra, first introduced in 1995, but now lagging behind such innovative rivals such as Ford’s new Mondeo.

The Insignia is the first car to use GM’s new Epsilon2 body platform, which was originally intended to be first used for the Saab 9-5, but has been pushed ahead for the new Vectra replacement.

The new car bears very little resemblance to the old Vectra, being slightly longer, with more muscular body lines. It is hoped that the new vehicle will replace the repmobile image lumbered with Vauxhall’s previous large family cars such as the Vectra and Cavalier.

The new vehicle is said to be as enjoyable to drive as the new Mondeo, a vehicle which is seen as the benchmark in its class for driver enjoyment. Like many of its rivals, the interior follows the simplistic Germanic styling first derived from models such as Volkswagen and BMW.

With the market for family cars becoming smaller, following the move towards vehicles such as SUVs and people carriers, it is little surprise that only five engine options are available, with three petrol engines ranging from a modest 138bhp unit, ranging to an impressive 255bhp V6 engine. Two turbodiesel engines compliment the range, with either 128 or 159 bhp versions available.

The new vehicle is believed to be hitting Vauxhall showrooms in the very near future. Prices have been kept in line with the Vectra, with only marginal price increases.