Must be said though, it is a looker.
If we recall correctly, German brand Opel said that their next-generation Corsa hatchback would likely make its debut at this year’s Frankfurt motorshow, which is still a long way away. However, judging by these leaked press shots of what appears to be a very-finished, very-ready Corsa-e, perhaps Opel (and new minders Groupe PSA) are just playing it safe and giving themselves plenty of breathing room.
These photos of this bright-orange ZEV were uploaded to a French forum called WorldScoop, where the story apparently goes that they were posted to a news portal by accident before being taken down. They weren’t removed quickly enough though, as one user managed to save all the images in decent resolution before republishing them on the aforementioned forum.
This car in particular, as we mentioned earlier, is the Corsa-e, and it’s the first electric car from the Opel/Vauxhall marques, with its chassis based on the CMP platform from Groupe PSA. By using CMP not only is the new Corsa able to accommodate fully-electric (and later plug-in hybrid, pure-ICE, and maybe mild-hybrid) powertrains, but it has also saved some 100kg over the outgoing car.
It also means that Opel was able to play around with the dimensions of the new Corsa, which now looks far more muscular and shapely than some of its slab-sided narrow-track predecessors. There’s clear incorporation of new Opel design motifs like the ‘diamond-studded’ grille, the sharp IntelliLux adaptive LED headlights, and matching taillights.
Inside the new Corsa is a world away from models that preceded it, with a digital instrument cluster & enormous centre infotainment display dominating the landscape. We expect to see a similar infotainment interface as seen in the Peugeot e-208; Other shared items include the shift-by-wire gear lever, but oddly, the dash and steering wheel designs look broadly similar to what you’d traditionally expect from Opel.
Powertrain-wise it’s likely that the Corsa-e will utilise the same 50kWh lithium-ion battery pack and 100kW motor as found in the Peugeot e-208, which would also suggest a similar range of about 340km on a full charge. Moving beyond that, the bread-and-butter engine of the lineup should be the 1.2-litre PureTech 3-cylinder turbo mill, which will be accompanied by other small engines from PSA’s catalogue.
Looking at these leaked images, it suddenly becomes apparent that we could be missing out on something significant here, given that Opel exited our market a while ago and have since clarified that they’re not interested in making a return to Australia. But the #FOMO doesn’t need to last long though as Peugeot remains very much a part of the Australian automotive fabric, so maybe we’ll see these models here, just with a Griffith on the nose instead.
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