The next-generation Vauxhall Corsa has been previewed by the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo, a 789bhp, 1170kg electric concept car built to show the future capability of the GSE performance brand.
While billed as a technical exercise for the PlayStation’s Gran Turismo racing game, it features “real-world” elements that will inform the design of the Mk7 Corsa, due next year, Vauxhall design boss Mark Adams told Autocar.
The concept, which nods to past Vauxhall/Opel motorsport models such as the Manta 400 rally car, also highlights its plans for hot GSE models. Adams called it Vauxhall’s “Type R moment”.
He said the aim is to make “truly attainable poster cars” with “proper performance” that will “make people look at the brand differently” while also appealing to a younger audience.
First look at next Corsa
The concept sits on Vauxhall parent company Stellantis’s forthcoming STLA Small platform, which could be first used by the seventh-generation Corsa.
Basing the concept on this future platform and giving it the Corsa name were “very deliberate” moves, said Adams.
He explained: “When you do a concept, so many of them are one metre high, five metres long. It’s a great fantasy, but is it meaningful for people? As soon as you badge it ‘Corsa’, you make something that all of a sudden becomes something you can see [that is] more real, while having a much more compact footprint.”
Compared with the current, CMP-based Mk6 Corsa, the concept is 130mm longer and 105mm wider, suggesting the model won’t grow too much in size.
Notably, the concept draws power from the same 82kWh battery as the larger Grandland, while the biggest battery available in the current Corsa is 52kWh.
Despite the radical exterior, elements with a production focus can be found. This includes the “more technical” interpretation of Vauxhall’s ‘Compass’ signature, which informs the concept’s front and rear lighting designs.
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Speed limits keep getting lower, roadworks everywhere, queues all over the place, and cars are ever more irrelevant, especially concepts. This is the worst idea I've seen.
Maybe I'm just having a bad morning.
The front end, with 'visor' panel and double slash lights looks very similar to the BMW Neue Klasse concept.
Would be interested to see Stellantis produce this as a rival to the crazy £100k Renault 5 Turbo hommage thing, but why would they ever do it as a Vauxhall/Opel when they also have Peugeot, Lancia, Citroen, FIAT, all with more crazy hatch heritage? Cant imagine there would ever be enough of a market for them all to do one so Vauxhall/Opel is forever doomed to be the boring brand.
I've just watched the Autocar presentation of the car and it looks huge,BMW 5series size I'd say and I'd have to agree it's just a collection of ideas,most are totally impractical even if it's supposed to be a race car concept.
Not sure how you can look at a wide hot hatch and think it looks 5 series sized, the proportions are entirely different. The sizes (relatice to existing Corsa) are within the article if you read before posting.