Opel Insignia Wins European Car of the Year

Opel Insignia

In some good news for GM - Opel Insignia wins European Car of the Year

By Alex Ricciuti
November 17, 2008 2:54 PM
Filed Under: Awards, German, Opel

Finally, some good news for GM.

GM Europe's Opel division has taken the European Car of the Year award for the first time in 22 years.

The Opel Insignia, the latest mid-sized sedan from the German automakers, beat out Ford's new Fiesta by just one point to win the top prize.

The Insignia comes with a range of four 2.0 liter diesel engines (from 110 to 190 hp) and four gasoline engines which top out with a 2.8 liter V6 turbo with 260 hp. It has won largely positive reviews for its top notch styling and improvements in driving dynamics.

Car sales in Europe have been hit hard by the current crisis. New car sales were down 14.5 percent in October compared to the same period last year for the Europe region, which includes the 27 EU states and other European countries too, according to figures compiled by ACEA, the industry group that represents automakers in Europe.

The other runner ups were the Alfa Romeo Mito, the Citroen C5, Skoda's latest Superb, the Renault Megane and the Mk VI of the VW Golf.

 

Source: COTY

Comments

carcrazy1234
November 17, 2008 3:29 PM
probably based off the new malibu over in north america... but that's a really nice looking car. i like it. :D

9TNine
November 18, 2008 1:08 AM
excuse me, based on the new Malibu...?? that's BS!

carcrazy1234
November 20, 2008 12:56 AM
makes sense dude... gm owns opel (as far as i know)... annnd they usually tend o use similar if not same chassis's to save money. many companies do that and its quite normal. this just looks far better than the malibu lol. even the malibu is a very nice looking car... but i'd go for this even though its probably the same chassis.

alessandro
November 17, 2008 3:29 PM
What a car, Opel! Exellente, incl. interior.

GRAVE
November 17, 2008 5:24 PM
Good job Opel. Very nice looking car from them. It's realy a nice step up. This car looks great plus the interior also and with it's V6 engine i think it's a good compititor with the Passat.

giga_games
November 17, 2008 6:37 PM
I knew it would win but i don't like the interior as much, maybe the german government helps now opel

Michael
November 17, 2008 6:53 PM
A nice looking car. And now Opel took a step forward with the new 2.0 CDTI 140 kW (400 Nm of torque) 4x4 automatic transmission. Volkswagen, when are we going to see a Passat 2.0 TDI 4Motion with DSG...

Motor_Yakuza
November 17, 2008 6:58 PM
Nice one GM, now we will see the clones ,Buik Regal, Saturn Aura, and another 1 or 2, I'm sure GM will find a way to clone it in more then 2 copies.

Iconic
November 17, 2008 8:55 PM
GM should scrap the Buick brand and create a new one so they can sell this car in the US. I would never buy this if it were called a buick regal.. which apparently is being sold as in China. Heck.. they should have brought the opel brand here a long time ago. They got rid of oldsmobile, they should do the same with buick. this car has a high potential to steal away nissan/infiniti customers.

NaBUru38
November 19, 2008 4:46 PM
GM has already done that with Saturn, iconic. They already offer the Astra and the Antara.

Btw, WCF, the Insignia isn't precisely a "mid-sized sedan". It's also offered in hatchback (aka liftback) and wagon/estate bodystyles.

9TNine
November 18, 2008 1:07 AM
Proof the GM can build decent cars...

...at least by their Euro division. Now if only the US division could do the same, GM wouldn't be in all this mess!

trailer
November 18, 2008 11:39 AM
It is a great car, but GM is acting so stupidly, having so many clones with different badges and brands etc. Look at VW, they have the same strong brand like Passat and Golf all around the world, what other example you need ?

xtreme_opc
November 19, 2008 9:20 AM
VW they use the same way with there cars like opel with many clones audi is almost the same as VW if u wanna buy opel u will know qwq its opel dosnt matter the clones also new astra will win the compact car of the world we will see opel is asuccessful brand thats why GM use them alot .

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