Opel-Vauxhall Astra Estate
Engineers had to adapt the vehicle to meet the needs of drivers who use it as a load carrier
- Published in Vehicle Development.
Sleek lines: Engineers had to balance vehicle practicality with aesthetics
Making the Astra Estate a capable load carrier was the key challenge for the project’s team of engineers. The hatchback variant may well have sold over 200,000 units since its launch in 2010, but the Estate plays a very different role in the market.
“This vehicle will be used by a lot of fleet companies. It’ll carry a lot of equipment in the back, so load volume and access is crucial,” says Andy Hitchcock, engineering general manager for advanced vehicle development at GM Europe’s UK engineering centre. “But we also had to make it a bit less box-like and give it a bit more of a sports appearance.”
The project started in 2006, and is heavily based on the fifth-generation hatchback. It uses the same 2,685mm wheelbase, and front and rear wheel tracks, 1,544mm and 1,558mm respectively. Spring and damper rates have been adapted from the hatchback because of the vehicle’s load-carrying role.
“We had to decide what would carry over and what would be unique to this vehicle,” says Hitchcock. “We started with something called a visual prompt, which just highlights the areas that are new, which are modified and which are carried over.”
Most of the hatchback’s body formed the new Astra Estate variant. Everything up to the Cpillar was carried over – meaning vehicle weight is unchanged at 1,393kg – although the rear doors had to be adjusted from the waist up because of the different angles used. “For this vehicle it wasn’t just the upper structure and outer panels, it was also the tailgate and the glass that we were responsible for,” he says.
Bringing styling and engineering together was a large part of the project. While the car will be used by a lot of fleet operators to lug around materials and tools, it will also be used by families, so a balance between practicality and aesthetics had to be met. “It’s a complete dialogue between ourselves and styling to achieve the structure that we need – so we can achieve the roof angle that they want and the packaging that we need for load carrying,” says Hitchcock.
Design techniques were used to fool the eye into thinking the Astra Estate’s shape is less boxlike than it really is. A waterfall effect was used to split the surface, so height appears to be reduced, while the wraparound rear screen draws the eye to the window, making the D-pillar seem narrower.
But while compromises can be made in some areas, other parts of the vehicle have to be engineered to meet the needs of drivers. “One critical area that we had to discuss was the tailgate hinges,” admits Hitchcock. “The purpose of the vehicle is a load carrier and we wanted to ensure that we had the maximum load capacity and access through the tailgate, so the hinge was fundamental to this.”
