Vauxhall is reviving the Frontera name for the big compact SUV that will replace the Crossland later this year.
The new Frontera, which will be unveiled in the coming weeks ahead of deliveries from the end of the year, is larger than the Crossland and will introduce the option of an electric powertrain.
It will be launched shortly before the replacement of the larger Grandland, which will be the last model in the Vauxhall range to get an EV variant.
The original Frontera was Vauxhall’s version of the Isuzu MU, a rugged mid-size SUV in the style of the Land Rover Freelander that was sold for two generations from 1991 to 2004.
Vauxhall’s first SUV, built in Luton, was available as a conventional five-door model and in two-door short wheelbase form with a soft top.
The new Frontera will be sold exclusively as a five-door, five-seater, but will take cues from its 1990s namesake by adopting a sturdier, more overtly 4×4-inspired appearance than that of the Crossland.
It will, Vauxhall said, be “a fun car with smart functional features” and “high levels of space and versatility” in a bid to appeal to “customers with active lifestyles and families alike”.
All indications are that the new Frontera is a direct competitor for the Dacia Duster, and like that car, Vauxhall has promised it will be offered ‘at an attractive price’ – likely from £20,000.
Images of a camouflaged prototype show that the Frontera is clearly a radically different proposition to the Crossland, with chunkier, flatter edges and a more overt billing as a small SUV, rather than a lifted supermini.
Opel’s new Vizor front fascia, with its sleek LED headlights and contrasting wraparound ‘grille’ panel, is just about visible through the heavy camouflage, but that’s where – it seems – the similarities end.