Editing Opel Ascona (section)

{{Infobox automobile
| image = Opel Ascona front 20071115.jpg
| name = Opel Ascona
| manufacturer = [[Opel]] ([[General Motors]])
| production = 1970–1988
| predecessor = 
| successor = [[Opel Vectra]]
| class = [[Large family car]] ([[D-segment|D]])
| related = [[Vauxhall Cavalier]]<br>[[Holden Camira]]<br>[[Isuzu Aska]]
}}

The '''Opel Ascona''' is a [[large family car]] ([[D-segment]] in Europe) that was produced by the German automaker [[Opel]] from 1970 to 1988. It was produced in three separate generations, beginning with [[rear-wheel-drive]] and ending up as a front-wheel drive [[GM J platform|J-car]] derivative. The Ascona was developed to fill the gap in the Opel range as the [[Opel Rekord]] was gradually growing in size.

The Ascona took its name from the lakeside resort of [[Ascona|that name]] in [[Ticino]], [[Switzerland]], and already in the 1950s a special edition of the [[Opel Rekord P1]] was sold as an Opel Ascona in Switzerland, where the name was again used in 1968 for a locally adapted version of the [[Opel Kadett#Kadett B (1965–1973)|Opel Kadett B]] into which the manufacturers had persuaded a 1.7-litre engine borrowed from the larger [[Opel Rekord C|Rekord]] model of the time.<ref name=Autocar196803>{{cite journal| journal = [[Autocar (magazine)|Autocar]] |number = 3762 | volume =128 | first = Geoffrey | last = Howard | editor-first = Maurice A. | editor-last = Smith | title = Geneva: Motor Show report | pages = 50–56| date = 1968-03-21 }}</ref> The Opel Ascona A launched in 1970 and sold across Europe was, however, the first mainstream Opel model to carry the name — departing from Opel's long standing convention of using [[German Navy|German naval rank]] designations for its models.

The Ascona was introduced in September 1970, lasting for 18 years and 3 generations and ended production in August 1988, to be replaced by the [[Opel Vectra]] A. The second and third generations of the Ascona were developed as global platforms by Opel's then parent [[General Motors]], with various derivative versions manufactured by other GM divisions around the world.

In motorsport, [[Walter Röhrl]] won the [[1982 World Rally Championship]] [[List of World Rally Championship Drivers' Champions|drivers' title]] with an Ascona 400.

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