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Opel Astra Named South African Car of the Year Finalist

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Opel Astra South African Car of the Year

The Opel Astra, which has already won a considerable number of awards of varying importance, is now a finalist for the 2017 Wesbank South African Car of the Year competition. The nomination makes two consecutive years where Opel has been represented in the finals, after both the ADAM and Corsa were finalists last year.


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“We’ve won the big European prize and it would be a real honor to add the local trophy to our cabinet,” commented Brian Olson, vice president vehicle sales, service, and marketing for GM Sub-Saharan Africa. “There’s no doubt that Europe’s top automotive communicators found the Astra to be the best of the best and we hope that evaluators from the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists reach the same conclusion. Local customers have certainly recognized the Astra as the best in its class, so far demand has far outstripped supply with the new Astra achieving its best market share in 20 years.”

The Opel Astra was already named the European Car of the Year earlier this year, and past Opel vehicles have also won car of the year honors in various markets, going back even to 1985 when the Astra was named the European Car of the Year.

Since launching in South Africa, sales of the Astra have averaged approximately 100 units every month. From April to August, it also maintained approximately 10% share of the C-segment hatchback market.

The final evaluations for SAGMJ COTY will take place in February of next year, with a winner scheduled to be announced on March 15th.


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