The 2008 Opel Insignia was revealed at the 2008 London Motor show and it was an important change from the aging Vectra.
The car-maker didn’t only change the name, it shifted the direction.

Opel needed a larger car than the Vectra. It was needed to offer more interior room. But it didn’t want to use the Vectra anymore. It was time to move on and so, it did it with the new Insignia. A car that offered more than a Vectra and came with a clean sheet design that was far from what the medium-sized Opels were before.

At the time of its launch, the Insignia was offered in two body versions: a hatchback and a classic, three-box sedan. The sloped rear of the later made it look like a hatch, but the trunk lid was opened independently from the rear window. The sculptured side panels and doors visually increased the length of the car. The headlights were aggressive and featured daytime running lights. All the efforts of the designers toward the aerodynamics paid off with a spectacular Cd of 0.27.

The interior was build from scratch and not even the previously used materials didn’t found a place to be used. The front seat seatbacks were thicker by 2 cm (0.8”), offering softer support for their occupants. The rear knee room was bigger by 3 cm (1.2”) than of the outgoing Vectra. A new infotainment generation included a seven-inch color monitor, with 3-D map view, a digital travel guide and improved scroll and zoom functions.

The 2008 Opel Insignia featured a wide range of engines, from a small 1.6-liter gasoline unit up to a 2.8-liter V6 unit. For the diesel fans, it offered three versions of a 2.0-liter turbodiesel. Front or all-wheel-drive systems were available for selected versions.