The Vauxhall Belmont was a small saloon sold in Britain between January 1986 and September 1991. It was a rebadged Opel Kadett E saloon, while the hatchback and estate versions of the same car were sold in Britain as the Astra.
Vauxhall Belmont at a glance
| Maker | Vauxhall Motors, Ellesmere Port |
|---|---|
| Production | January 1986 – September 1991 |
| Based on | Opel Kadett E saloon |
| Body | four-door saloon |
| Sold as | Vauxhall Belmont in Britain only |
| Same car elsewhere | Opel Kadett in Europe, Opel Monza in South Africa |
| Related Astra | Mk2 Astra hatchback and estate |
| Replaced by | Astra Mk3 saloon, September 1991 |
| Survivors in 2019 | 23 on the road, 69 on SORN |
Written from the English Wikipedia article on the Belmont, with background from the German article on the Kadett E.
History of the Vauxhall Belmont
When General Motors launched a saloon version of the Vauxhall Astra and Opel Kadett in the mid-1980s, only British customers got it with a different badge. The Belmont went on sale in January 1986, based on the Kadett E saloon that had been launched in September 1985, while the other body styles of the same car continued as the Astra. The idea was common at the time: Ford sold its Escort saloon as the Orion and Volkswagen sold the Golf saloon as the Jetta, positioning saloons as a cut above their hatchback sisters.
The Belmont won praise for its huge boot compared with rivals, but it never lived up to Vauxhall’s claim that it was “not just a booted Astra”. In South Africa the same car was called the Opel Monza, a name with no connection to the big Senator-based coupé sold in Europe, and it replaced the Opel Ascona there.
When the Astra Mk2 was replaced in September 1991, the Belmont name was dropped and the saloon became simply another Astra body style. Sales of the Astra-badged saloon were never as strong as the Belmont’s had been, as saloons of this size fell out of favour through the 1990s; the saloon was finally dropped in March 2004 with the launch of the Mk5 Astra.
The Belmont later became an unlikely statistical curiosity. In December 2004 it was revealed as the most stolen car in Britain in proportion to the number on the road, with 1,978 taken in 2003 — about one in every ten registered — when some 20,000 remained in use, and it topped a similar list published in December 2006. By 2019 DVLA records showed only 23 Belmonts on the road, with another 69 on SORN.
Design and features
- Big boot: the Belmont’s main selling point against hatchback rivals.
- British-only badge: the Kadett E saloon was a Vauxhall solely in the UK.
- Simple range: ordinary petrol engines and trim levels shared with the Astra.
- Rarity: only 23 were still on the road in 2019.
Vauxhall Belmont versions
- Belmont 1.3 and 1.6: the usual petrol models shared with the Astra.
- Belmont Merit and LXi: common trim levels of the period.
- Opel Monza (South Africa): the same saloon under a different name.
- Astra saloon (1991): the replacement that used the Astra badge again.
The Belmont was the saloon sister of the Astra, and it disappeared when the Cavalier’s smaller stablemate changed shape. More cars are in the Vauxhall collection.
Sources
- Vauxhall Belmont, English Wikipedia: dates, boot, theft statistics, end of the name
- Opel Kadett E, German Wikipedia: saloon body and European context
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