Rauno Aaltonen, a name very few people have heard, was a World Rally Championship driver, who just so happens to also be credited for inventing left foot braking. Known as “The Rally Professor,” Aaltonen was born in January 1938, in Turku, Finland. He is regarded as one of the first of the famous “Flying Finns” and started rallying in 1956 at the age of 18.
We always get a bit excited when we find out that a European car is being rebadged for American consumption. That feeling of excitement quickly dissipates, though, when we look back on the actual history of cars from foreign markets being rebadged in the States. Stories of the Renault/AMC Alliance, Cadillac Catera, and Ford Contour stream back to our consciousness, causing us to drop to our knees and pray that history won’t repeat itself. We had a similar moment when we heard that the Vauxhall/Opel Insignia, the 2009 European Car of the Year, was coming stateside. Thankfully, our fears were unfounded as the Insignia, using the resurrected Regal nameplate, is a homerun for Buick.
Our spy photographers have been busy lately, catching these shots of Vauxhall/Opel’s new Astra GTC. The three-door is joining the recently unveiled five-door model. The last generation Astra three-door came to the United States wearing a Saturn badge, and we hope this new generation makes the trip across the pond as well.
Our spy photographer, despite an altercation with the test driver, was able to get these shots of the Opel Astra GSi.
The Chevrolet Captiva (or Opel or Vauxhall Antara, or Daewoo Winstorm, depending on where you drive) is getting a bit of a facelift. Some of you may probably recognize it as the now-defunct Saturn Vue.