A RUSH of orders for the three-door version of Vauxhall's new Astra has left customers facing a two-month waiting list. The manufacturer admits it has been caught out by the popularity of the model and will take until later this year to catch up with demand.

A spokesman for the company said: 'There has been stronger than anticipated demand across Europe. In 1997, 3% of old Astra sales were the three-door. The new car looks very different from the five-door, so we were expecting some increase in demand, but the order bank went to more than 10% of sales. We were not expecting that sort of rush and in a sense we were surprised. It is a Catch 22 situation, where you want high demand for the car, but not so much that you can't serve the demand as well.'

Vauxhall is aiming to get waiting lists down to six to eight weeks by the autumn for the three-door model, which covers its 1.6 and 1.8 Sport and base models. It is expecting yearly sales of 100,000 for the full model range, which will be completed with production of the four-door saloon, expected to start in the autumn.