Vauxhall Frontera name returns in 2024 for Crossland replacement

Vauxhall is reviving the Frontera name for the chunky compact SUV that will replace the Crossland later this year.

Due to be revealed in the coming weeks ahead of deliveries starting at the end of the year, the new Frontera is larger than the Crossland and will introduce the option of an electric powertrain.

It will be launched shortly ahead of the replacement for the larger Grandland, which will be the final model in the Vauxhall line-up to get an EV variant. 

The original Frontera was Vauxhall's version of the Isuzu MU, a rugged, mid-sized SUV in the vein of the Land Rover Freelander that was sold over two generations from 1991 to 2004.

Built in Luton, the first Vauxhall SUV was available as a conventional five-door model and in short-wheelbase, two-door 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 in adopting a chunkier, more overtly 4x4-inspired appearance than that of the Crossland. 

It will be, Vauxhall said, "a fun car with clever functional features" and "a high level of space and versatility" in a bid to appeal to "customers with an active lifestyle and families alike". 

All clues point to the new Frontera being a direct rival for the Dacia Duster, and like that car, Vauxhall has promised it will be offered "at an attractive price" - likely starting in the low-£20,000s.

Images of a camouflaged prototype reveal the Frontera is obviously a radically different proposition from the Crossland, with chunkier, flatter edges and a more overt billing as a small SUV, rather than a raised supermini. 

Vauxhall's new Vizor front end, with its slimline LED headlights and contrasting wraparound 'grille' panel, is just about visible through the heavy camouflage, but there – it seems – is where the similarities end.