Designed for Success: Opel Astra Wins Red Dot Award 2023

• Visionary and full of character: Opel Astra takes award in “Product Design” category
• Expressive: Bold and pure design with Opel Vizor brand face
• Focussed on the essentials: Fully digital and intuitive Pure Panel cockpit
• Serial winner: Astra adds Red Dot Award to growing list of accolades

The Opel Astra impresses at first sight – as a five-door model as well as the Astra Sports Tourer estate. A statement that the international expert jury of the Red Dot Awards fully agrees with. The panel of experts, consisting of 43 judges this year, awarded the compact class bestseller from Rüsselsheim the Red Dot Award 2023 in the "Product Design" category. This adds yet another award to the Astra’s growing list of accolades. Among others, it has already won the ”Golden Steering Wheel 2022”¹, was voted “FAMILY CAR of the Year 2022”², and the independent expert jury of the "German Car Awards" (GCOTY) voted the Astra "German Compact Car of the Year 2023"³.

“Our Bold and Pure design philosophy really shines in our latest generation Opel Astra. Like every new Opel model, the Astra comes with the expressive Opel Vizor brand face and combines innovative technology with emotional design. We also developed the cockpit according to this principle. The fully digital Pure Panel can be operated intuitively and is focussed on the essentials,” said Opel’s Vice President Design Mark Adams.

Bold, pure, expressive: The Astra design stands out in the compact class

The current Astra not only thrills with its locally emission-free plug-in hybrid drives and soon as a fully electric Astra Electric – it also stuns with clear, exciting lines without superfluous flourishes. The Opel Vizor (the new face of the brand first seen on the Mokka and the central exterior design element) follows the Opel Compass where the vertical and horizontal axes – the sharp crease in the hood and the wing shaped graphic of the daylight running lamps – intersect with the Opel Blitz emblem in the middle. Stretching across the front, making the new Astra look even wider, the Vizor also seamlessly integrates technologies such as the optional ultra-slim Intelli-Lux LED^® headlamps and the front camera of the Intelli-Vision system. Viewed from the side, the next-generation Astra looks especially dynamic thanks to the pronounced forward rake of the C-pillar.

At the rear, the Opel Compass is repeated by the centrally mounted Blitz, the vertically aligned high-mounted brake lamp and the tail lamps (energy-saving LED, as is all exterior lighting). The Blitz emblem also doubles as the latch for the tailgate, which is made of state-of-the-art composite material. This technology is not only light in weight and rigid, it also allows the precise execution of design details such as the especially slim tail lamps.

Fully digital and fully glazed: The intuitively operated, focussed Pure Panel Cockpit

The same German precision and balance applies throughout the interior where a leap in time has taken place. The absolute highlight is the next generation of the Pure Panel. This expansive, digital cockpit (fully glazed depending on variant) features two 10-inch displays, integrated – together with the driver’s side air vent – in a horizontal format. Analogue instruments are consigned to history in the new Astra. Thanks to a shutter-like layer that prevents upward reflections in the windscreen, the design dispenses with a hood over the displays, which further enhances the high-tech functionality and ambience.

The Opel designers and engineers have taken great care to ensure that the driver receives all the necessary information and useful operating options, but is not burdened with superfluous data or functions. With the physical controls reduced to the minimum in the form of finely crafted keys, the Pure Panel achieves the optimum balance between digitisation and intuitive operation, detoxed of irritating visual stimuli and without the need for sub-menus. “Visual detox” is the keyword here. In combination with the high-quality and precisely designed AGR-certified ergonomic active seats, the Astra offers a modern feel-good atmosphere – inside and out.

Red Dot Award: Design highlights for over 60 years

The current Opel Astra generation expands the long line of Red Dot Award winners from Rüsselsheim. Numerous other Opel models and communication tools have already received the coveted award. As one of the world’s largest design competitions, the "Red Dot Award" has been recognising innovative design in the categories "Product Design", "Brands & Communication Design" and "Design Concept" for over 60 years. In 2023, the expert jury evaluated products from 60 countries. This award is not conducted as a competition, but rather through an individual product test.

^[1] AUTO BILD edition 45/2022 and BILD am SONNTAG edition 46/2022, category for “Best car up to €50,000”.

^[2] “FAMILY CAR of the Year 2022” by AUTO Straßenverkehr, categories “Design” and “Technology” (up to €25,000).

^[3] “German Compact Car of the Year” (compact class category, up to €30,000).