Launched with a 1,896 cc engine as a 1976 model in November 1975, the Cavalier was a restyled version of the second generation German Opel Ascona which had debuted three months earlier in West Germany. The Ascona/Cavalier was built on what GM called the U-car platform, and the Cavalier was originally intended to have its own bodywork. It ended up with the front of an Opel Manta B model and the rearend of an Opel Ascona B model. In the end to keep costs down a different nose, designed by Wayne Cherry, was the only obvious styling feature to set the Vauxhall apart. The new models bore a strong visual resemblance to the 1973 OSV (Opel Safety Vehicle) project which had been seen in West Germany two years before.