KEY POINTS:
General Motors is calling its new hot hatchback the 'Ring leader, in that it spent much of its pre-production development life on the demanding Nurburgring circuit in Germany.
The carmaker is also saying the three-door is "white hot", mostly because the only colour it will be available in is white.
The subject of all the fuss is the Vauxhall Astra VXR, a turbocharged front-drive flyer GM's British arm has badged the "Nurburgring Edition".
Vauxhall is saying the limited-edition model is the quickest Astra it or its GM-owned German stablemate, Opel, has developed.
There's no word whether it will be available in New Zealand as a rebadged Holden Astra - like many other Opel/Vauxhall models - and rival to go-fast front-drivers like the Volkswagen GTi Golf, Mazda MP3 or Renault Megane 225.
Based on the British Astra VXR, each individually numbered Nurburgring Edition gets an all-white paint finish and lightweight white 18-inch alloy wheels, equipped with bespoke Dunlop tyres.
Other features include dark-tinted windows, carbon-fibre-effect mirrors and B-pillars and chequered flag body graphics to further emphasise the car's performance.
Mechanically similar to the standard VXR, the Nurburgring Edition produces 180kW (240bhp) in factory tune, giving it the ability to accelerate from zero to 100km/h in six seconds and on to a top speed of 250km/h.
Each British-specification car will also come provided with a Remus sports exhaust, developed with Vauxhall's British Touring Car Championship race team, Triple-Eight Race Engineering, which provides a power increase of up to 10kW.
Like the standard car, the Nurburgring Edition gets a six-speed manual gearbox and lowered, uprated VXR suspension with stability system as standard.
The dynamics are enhanced still further with the wider front and rear tracks and lower un-sprung weight offered by the new alloy wheels. Ventilated 321mm diameter disc brakes at the front and 278mm diameter discs at the back help slow things down, while blue-painted callipers remain a VXR trademark.
The Nurburgring Edition theme continues inside, with carbon fibre detailing on the door trims and fascia, leather seats with the Nurburgring circuit graphic embossed into the Recaro front seat backrests and an individually numbered plaque showing each car's build number.
What the Nurburgring Edition doesn't come with, though, is the Nurburgring sticker you can buy when you lap the famous circuit.
