Vauxhall Astra gets first official teaser for 2026 facelift

Having launched in 2021, the current eighth-generation Vauxhall Astra is ripe for a facelift and we’ve just been given our first glimpse of the updated version ahead of its unveiling next year. 

The first official images show the Astra in its Opel-branded European-specification. Opel CEO Florian Huettl said: “Now we are taking the next big step. The new Opel Astra and the new Opel Astra Sports Tourer will delight customers with new, even sharper and more precise design highlights as well as innovative technologies.”

Much of the subtle new design has already been revealed thanks to the hazy images. Immediately we can see Vauxhall’s ‘Vizor’ family face has been tweaked on the Astra for a slimmer, more purposeful look. The Opel badge is illuminated - we should expect the same for the Vauxhall-badged cars - and there’s a stylistic nod to the ‘Opel compass’ as found on the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo concept. 

Elsewhere there’s a new LED headlight signature with the lights themselves almost meeting the central badge - an attempt to emphasise the width of the Astra. Other teaser images show a new Astra-badged alloy wheel option. 

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We’d expect the same selection of powertrains to be available on the new Astra as the current car. Given it’s only recently launched, the revised plug-in hybrid with its larger 17.2kWh battery is almost certainly going to be carried over. A new Hybrid 145 engine was added to the range in 2025 as well so that’s unlikely to be axed. 

The Vauxhall Astra Electric with its 54kWh battery offering up to 258 miles of range isn’t likely to be replaced, given the limitations of the Astra’s EMP2 architecture. We’ll have to wait and see if the hot 222bhp plug-in hybrid Astra GSE continues to sit alongside the latest all-electric Mokka GSE and upcoming Corsa GSE. 

We expect to see the Vauxhall Astra facelift arrive sometime in 2026 and, as ever, it won’t have the family hatchback class to itself. While the Ford Focus has bid us goodbye, there’s still the Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 308, Mazda 3, SEAT Leon and Toyota Corolla to compete with. Even Dacia is getting in on the action with its upcoming C-Neo - which we’ve recently spied for the first time. 

Of course, aside from the Dacia all these cars we’ve mentioned are available to buy on the Auto Express Find A Car service with savings of over £9,000 to be made.