General Motors is to dump the model name Vectra, used in Europe for 20 years for its large family car, saying Thursday it will rename the category the Insignia next year, according to dpa. GM's German unit said the new-generation Opel Insignia and its British version, the Vauxhall Insignia, would be unveiled at the London Motor Show in July 2008. Like the Vectra, the updated model is to be built at the Opel factory at Ruesselsheim, west of Frankfurt. Opel says it has sold 9.9 million of the series, which began in 1970 as the Opel Ascona and was renamed the Vectra in 1988. The Vectra had a patchy history with criticism of the reliability of earlier models. For a while, GM also sold the series as the Holden Vectra in Australasia and as the Chevrolet Vectra in some parts of Latin America.
