VauxhaIl Astra Electric

FIRST DRIVE Hatchback introduces electrification in a familiar package

- Robin Hornig

MANY electric cars seem like spaceships when compared with conventional combustion-engined vehicles, with radically different approaches to styling and packaging, plus complex controls that require a bit of adaptation. This isn't an accusation that can be levelled at the new Vauxhall Astra Electric, though, which keeps its wheels firmly on the ground. Here, from the outset, is a car that runs on electricity but doesn't need any other bells or whistles.

The Astra Electric is based on a combustion-engined platform (the third version of Stellantis's EMP2 architecture). This helps to reduce production costs, because the Electric comes off the line at the same plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany, as the regular combustion editions.

On the other hand, it does bring compromises in packaging, because squeezing a battery into the floor cuts the boot space of the Astra from 422/1,339 litres (seats up/down) to 351/1,268 litres in the Electric. Those are still just about reasonable numbers, and they're no worse than you'd find in the plug-in hybrid version of the same car, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're going to throw a lot of family life at it.