An Opel Insignia Sports Tourer 2.0T OPC Line, seen in 2016 in the great city of Changchun in Jilin Province. The cool German wagon was in great shape and looked fantastic in black with darkened windows and sporty gray alloy wheels.
The first generation Opel Insignia was manufactured from 2008 until 2017 with a facelift in 2013. Our Changchun car is an original pre-facelift example. ‘Sports Tourer’ was a fancy name for the station wagon version.
Interestingly, the sedan version was made in China by SAIC-GM and marketed under the Buick Regal nameplate, but the wagon was sold as an official import under the Opel brand. The OPC line was a sporty trim level, not to be confused with the high-performance Insignia OPC sedan.
The OPC line was loaded with luxuries like black leather seats with red stitching and a racy instrument binnacle. It had a CD player with a 6-CD changer, a panoramic sunroof, and automatic air conditioning all as standard. The center stack was stacked to the max with buttons and switches, which, in those old days, was a sign of expensiveness.
Selling the Opel Insignia Sports Tourer in China was quite a daring move, as wagons were not popular and Opel was an unknown brand. Opel sold it in two trim levels: OPC Line and Luxury.
The OPC Line got a 2.0 turbo with 250 hp and 400 Nm. Power went to all wheels via a six-speed automatic. Top speed was a proper 233 km/h. The Luxury had the same motor but with only 220 hp and front-wheel drive.
Price for the OPC Line was 375.000 yuan. That was actually quite a good deal for an import with so much power and luxury on board. However, the unpopular body style and the unknown Opel brand made it a hard sell and it is therefore a rather rare car in China.