(Wed 16 Jun 10)

The Sports Tourer estate version of the Vauxhall Astra will make its world debut at the Paris Show in September, and will go on sale in the UK at some yet-to-be-specified before the end of this year.

Luggage capacity with the rear seats in place is 30 litres greater than that of the Astra hatchback, at 500 litres. With the seats folded down (which can be done - as standard on some models, optionally on others) by pressing a button in the load compartment, the available volume increase to 1550 litres.

The new Sports Tourer also has 25 litres' worth of extra storage space in the cabin, an increase of 50% over the current model.

Three petrol and three diesel engines, ranging in power output from 99bhp to 158bhp, will be available from launch, and shortly afterwards a 1.3-litre diesel will be added to the list and fitted to the low-CO2 ecoFLEX model, which will be one of the first Vauxhalls sold with a start/stop system.

Pricing has not yet been confirmed for any of the above.

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