Vauxhall’s new British-built Astra will be priced from £15,675 - £270 more than the outgoing model when it goes on sale in December.Vauxhall Astra 2010

Order books are now open and the entry model is the Exclusiv 1.4i priced at £15,675 which includes air conditioning, electronic stability control, 16-inch wheels and an MP3-format radio/CD player with aux-in as standard.

Vauxhall believes the new Astra is going to attract new buyers from premium products like the Audi A3 “but at a far more affordable price point”. The brand is putting a firm focus on a rise in quality over the previous model.

The Astra is being built at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory and secures employment for 2,000 people. The UK factory will also be building all the Opel versions which will go on sale throughout Europe.

There will be five trim levels from launch including Exclusiv, S, SRi, SE and Elite with prices ranging from £15,675 to £23,659.

The new Astra will be available with a range of eight engines, ranging from 85bhp to 178bhp, which offer an overall cut in emissions of 13.3% compared with the current Astra range.

Diesel engines are expected to represent almost half of all Astra sales, and will range from a 1.7-litre producing 108bhp to a 2.0-litre generating 158bhp, but won’t emit more than 129g/km when fitted with a manual transmission.

Vauxhall will also be introducing an ecoFLEX model which will be introduced in spring with a 1.3CDTi 93bhp which will emit 109g/km of CO2.

There will also be five petrol engines available, ranging from an 85bhp 1.4-litre to a 178bhp 1.6-litre turbo. Included in this line up will be a new 1.4-litre turbocharged engine, producing 138bhp, replacing the 1.8-litre engine used in the current range.

Dealers will have a big range of options to upsell on the Astra to upgrade to a leather interior, audio systems and lighting technology.