Despite being a vastly improved car over its predecessor, the
Vauxhall Astra VXR
has been struggling somewhat against its hot hatch contemporaries. Not as rewarding as a
Megane 265
Focus ST
and not as desirable as a
Golf GTI
, the VXR was in danger of being overlooked.
"Not on our watch" is the apparent response from Vauxhall with the Astra VXR Extreme. This being a concept from Vauxhall's performance brand, it isn't shy by any stretch. There's only one image so far but it reveals four ruddy great exhaust pipes, a spoiler that towers over the rear screen and enough visual aggression to make the standard car look a almost diffident.
The Extreme has been derived from the Astra Cup racer and is pitched as the 'street-legal race sibling' to the regular VXR. The Cup car makes 300hp and 295lb ft, the same amount of torque but 20hp more than the VXR; we'd expect the Extreme to match that output.
According to Vauxhall there is 'liberal use of high-quality carbon components'; those unique wheels appear to have the familiar weave, as does a lot of the bodykit. It's been suggested that bigger panels such the doors and the bonnet could be carbon too.
2014 marks the tenth anniversary of VXR and a production version of the Extreme would surely be the most appropriate way to celebrate. Loud in every sense and very fast with it, what better way to mark a decade of VXR? We should find out more at Geneva.