Pontiac Astre
car model
The Pontiac Astre is a subcompact automobile that was marketed by Pontiac as a rebadged variant of the Chevrolet Vega. Initially marketed in Canada for model years 1973–1974, the Astre debuted in the U.S. for the 1975 model year, competing with other domestic and foreign subcompacts that included the Mercury Bobcat, Volkswagen Rabbit, and Toyota Corolla.
Built on the H-body platform, the car was available in hatchback, notchback, wagon, and panel delivery body styles. The Astre shared the aluminum-block 2.3 liter inline-four engine with the Vega through 1977, while the final 1977 models offered Pontiac's all-iron 2.5 liter inline-four engine as an option. The Astre was cancelled with the Vega at the end of the 1977 model year, although the wagon continued for 1978 and 1979, rebadged as part of the Pontiac Sunbird line. The word "astre" is Catalan for "star", a shared naming convention for the Vega.
Design
In 1968 GM chairman James Roche announced that General Motors would produce a new mini-car in the U.S. in two years. Pontiac's own small car program had been rejected. Not only did corporate management make the decision to enter the mini-car market, it also decided to develop the car itself. It was a corporate car, not a divisional one.
“Pontiac Astre” enters the record as car model. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pontiac, Astre and model can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pontiac Astre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.