Vauxhall Cavalier

The Vauxhall Cavalier was a medium-sized family car, sold in the UK by Vauxhall Motors, the UK subsidiary of General Motors, in the 1970s through to the mid-1990s.

1976

Launched in 1975 as a 1976 model, the Cavalier was a restyled version of the German Opel Ascona, produced at Vauxhall's factory in Luton and also at GM's Antwerp plant in Belgium.

The original range was available as 2 and 4 door saloons and a shapely coupé that was essentially the Opel Manta, with a choice of 1.6 and 1.9 engine sizes in the saloon and just the 1.9 in the coupé.

It was revised in 1978 as the 1.9 became a 2.0 and the 1.3 litre overhead valve engine from the Vauxhall Viva, Vauxhall Chevette was used to create the entry Cavalier 1.3 variant. At the same time, a 3-door Sports Hatch replaced the Coupé.

All Cavaliers shared similar bodywork to the Opel Ascona but had the slanted nose of the Manta to give them the distinct "droop snoot" front end, while the coupé also had a lower nose spoiler. The Chevrolet Chevair in South Africa was a variant of this model, featuring the grille of the Opel Manta and different engine choices.

For a time, the coupé was transformed into the Centaur convertible by an aftermarket coachbuilding firm in the UK.

Despite being the same car mechanically, the Opel Ascona was sold alongside the Cavalier in the UK until 1981, when GM decided to phase out the Opel brand in the UK, and merge dealerships with those of Vauxhall.

1981

A front wheel drive version was introduced in late 1981, using the same underpinnings as the Opel Ascona. This model was part of GM's family of compact sized 'J-cars', along with the Ascona, the Australian Holden Camira, the Japanese Isuzu Aska, and the North American Chevrolet Cavalier. In the UK, the new Cavalier was a success and challenged the supremacy of the Ford Cortina as the company car of choice. Following the British public's reluctance to embrace the Ford Sierra's radical styling, the Cavalier overtook the Sierra in sales and became the best selling car in its class in the UK throughout the 1980's.

At launch, this version of the Cavalier came with the choice of 1.3, 1.6 or 1.8 litre power - the 1.3 and 1.6 being similar to the smaller Astra/Kadett, while the 1.8 had electronic fuel injection and was new. A diesel 1.6 was added later on, while the 1.8 came with a larger displacement of 2.0 litres and 16 valves in 1985.

This model was produced as a four-door saloon and five-door hatchback. An estate version, based on the Holden Camira was also available, and a convertible.

The Thatcher government in the UK created a tax break at 1.8 litres, with any company car having a larger engine than this attracting higher personal benefit taxes, thus effectively giving the Cavalier an advantage over its rivals soon after its launch.

By the end of its life cycle, the top of the range version was the powerful 2.0 SRi130, which had 130 hp and could exceed 120 mph. This had effectively the same engine as the Astra GTE/Kadett GSi 16v.

For the first time, Vauxhall began exporting cars in left hand drive to other European countries, badged as Opels, which was a boost to GM's confidence in its once-troubled British subsidiary. When the Cavalier was first introduced, the cars were built at GM's plant in Belgium, but production quickly moved to Luton. The estate version was built by Holden in Australia.

1988

The last Cavalier was introduced in 1988, being Vauxhall's version of the Opel Vectra A, again as a saloon and hatchback. There was no estate version in the Opel line-up, and as the Vectra was not going to be sold in Australia, there was no prospect of Vauxhall turning to Holden for a replacement. The Vectra name was not adopted at this model change as Vauxhall feared reviving memories of the somewhat pedestrian Vauxhall Victor, an objection which did not hold at the end of this model's life.

In place of the old model's angular exterior was a more rounded appearance. There was also a new 1.4 L petrol engine which was economical but slow, and did not prove popular with buyers. The biggest changes to the range were the addition of 2.0 L 16-valve engines (on the SRi and GSi) which could be had with all wheel drive, and the inclusion of fuel injection on most models. The 1.7 L turbo-diesel also proved economical.

Bodystyles were hatchback and saloon, with no estate option. Despite the lack of a load carrier, the Cavalier topped the large-medium family car sales charts in Britain in 1991, ahead of the Ford Sierra.

A facelift in the autumn of 1992 saw the Cavalier's 1.4 L engine dropped and a powerful 2.5 L V6 added to the range. Most of the range now had airbags and antilock brakes as standard.

The Cavalier name was dropped in favour of 'Vectra' in 1995, bringing the naming policy in line with Continental Europe.