In Europe, it was called Opel Astra and in China, it was Buick Excelle XT.
The seventh generation of the Astra was launched in 2014 and, in 2018, a mid-life cycle refresh was introduced.

A quarter of British drivers had or drove a Vauxhall Astra in their life. That is huge and it shows the success of the German compact vehicle. The 2018 facelift was introduced to support the sales figures of the high-selling vehicle, on a market highly contested by most of the car manufacturers.

GM wanted to do a more efficient Astra. To do this with the lowest possible costs, it put the car into the wind tunnel and adjusted what it could be adjusted and dropped the drag coefficient to a stunning Cx of 0.26. That was better than 90% of the cars on the market at that time. In the late ’80s, that was a world record and it was obtained by another Vauxhall/Opel, the Calibra. Revisions to the bodywork the grille that had shutters.

For the interior, the Astra received a faster and more intuitive Multimedia Radio, Multimedia Navi, and Multimedia Navi Pro systems compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The top-of-the-line Multimedia Navi Pro - already featured in the Vauxhall Insignia flagship - had an 8” touchscreen and supported voice control. The instrument cluster featured a new digital speedometer.

For the engine bay, there were new, three-cylinder units of 1.2- and 1.5-liter displacement. The former was gasoline and the latter was a turbodiesel. The most powerful version was the 1.4-liter turbocharged that offered 145 hp and it was mated with an optionally 9-speed automatic gearbox.