New Vauxhall Corsa leaks online ahead of imminent debut

The new Corsa is the first mainstream Vauxhall produced entirely under the brand's new owner, the PSA Group, and is crucial to Vauxhall and Opel's success, given the model's historic popularity. It will also be both brands' first model to be sold with a purely battery-electric variant.

A preview image, released earlier this year, showed the Corsa's headlights will feature adaptive-beam full LED technology - claimed to be a segment first. Usually the preserve of premium models, the LEDs are able to continuously adapt the full beam pattern to stop it from causing glare to oncoming traffic. 

The Corsa will set the tone for a new wave of Vauxhall-Opel models, each of which will be overhauled thanks to access to new platforms, engines and hardware that are also used across the group’s other car brands: Peugeot, Citroën and DS.

The new Corsa has been developed in an unusually fast time. Less than two years will have elapsed since work began, just as the deal to buy Vauxhall-Opel was being agreed between PSA and General Motors.

The quick turnaround is due to PSA reversing the original decision for the next Corsa to be based on GM’s architecture. Once PSA had taken over Vauxhall-Opel, it would have been required to pay a licensing fee to GM to use the platform, something boss Carlos Tavares is keen to avoid. 

Vauxhall-Opel boss Michael Lohscheller has previously told Autocar that the new Corsa will not be compromised in any way.

"It’s true that we had a version ready to go, and you can’t just stretch a design to fit a new platform," he said, "but the teams have done a fantastic job in record time to ensure that the car is on schedule.”

The new Corsa is based on PSA’s Common Modular Platform (CMP), a front-wheel-drive architecture. The Corsa will also dip into PSA’s engine line-up and is likely to adopt the turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol unit in a variety of power outputs.

Despite the switch to a new platform, the Mk6 Corsa’s dimensions are understood to closely match the outgoing model’s. Vauxhall chose to launch the current Corsa in 2014 with near-identical dimensions to its predecessor, because the company felt it was the ideal size for customers. This strategy is expected to continue. The current Corsa is 4021mm long, 1736mm wide and 1479mm tall, dimensions that make it slightly longer and taller, but narrower, than the existing 208.

The design of the Corsa was set to be evolutionary before the plan for a GM-derived model was axed. Now, to mark a new era for the model under PSA ownership, it has been radically changed.

The three-door Corsa will be axed, reflecting an industry trend to discontinue such bodystyles, which are less popular with buyers. Producing only a five-door Corsa will also help Vauxhall-Opel’s drive for greater efficiency and increased profitability.

Inside, the Corsa looks set to receive PSA’s familiar touchscreen infotainment system, but the overall feel of the interior seems distinct from that of the 208.

Although the Peugeot 208 will get an electric variant first, it and the Corsa will be among the select few in the supermini segment to adopt electrified powertrains. Key rivals such as the Ford Fiesta are not expected to go electric for many years yet. The electric range of the eCorsa is likely to be about 210 miles, in line with zero-emissions rivals such as the Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf.