We’ve been waiting on this announcement for a little while. Ever since the demise of the VXR badge, the Vauxhall line-up has really missed having proper performance derivatives. Because they were good, for one thing, and because there’s such hot Vaux heritage in the UK that it seemed weird not having any new ones around. Now some order is set to be restored, with the revival of the GSE badge for “particularly dynamic, exhilarating, and emotional Opel models.” So says Opel CEO Florian Huettl.
It’ll stand for Grand Sport Electric, so park any ideas of a reimagined straight-six Monza with that badge right away. On the other hand, the new performance offshoot promises a lot more than the current, very tepid range of hybrid GSE models, and there are some encouraging signs in the wider Stellantis empire that fast, vaguely affordable EVs matter. The latest Abarth 600e has been well received, and Peugeot has confirmed a GTI will come back; imagine a Corsa GSE spun off the same ‘Perfo-eCMP’ architecture as the Abarth, complete with 280hp…
We’re getting ahead of ourselves. For now, the GSE message is all about branding fizz rather than a tangible product. Apparently, every letter of the new brand stands for many different attributes; G is for – and this is not a joke – ‘Grand, German engineering meets goosebumps, great grip, and G-forces’. S, a little more predictably, is for ‘sport, speed, sweat, and sliding through S-curves’. E then covers off electric as well as ‘excitement, exhilaration, and euphoria’. That’s some promise. Although credit where it’s due, Opel is suggesting the right sort of changes beyond buzzwords: each GSE model will get a bespoke chassis tune that ‘directly integrates the driver and offers exciting driving pleasure’, alongside brake upgrades – it isn’t just power and a new badge. Opel believes it will demonstrate ‘once again that all-electric vehicles are also full of emotions.’
What happens next? It’s not exactly clear, but Opel does promise more is coming in 2025, so there won’t be very long to wait before another announcement. Furthermore, the mention in the press release of the GSE brand being resurrected back in 2022 is encouraging, because that was when the brilliant little Manta ElektroMOD concept was shown. And when they said the car was coming in 2025, in fact. A proper little coupe would be quite the way to kick off a new electric sub-brand.