Flipping heck: the Opel Manta is back, and electric

The Opel Manta is making a comeback. And what a delightful sentence that is. This time around though, it’s electric.

But of course. Opel has taken a leaf out of Honda, Fiat and Renault’s book, realising the best way to win the trust of EV sceptics is to give them the car of their youth, just with CarPlay, air con and a wodge of batteries stuffed inside.

This is the Opel Manta GSe ElektroMOD (their caps, not ours). “It harks back to the legendary Manta of 1970 and simultaneously gives added impetus to the growing phenomenon of restomods,” says Opel, “where icons like the Manta mix original and new technologies and design.”

Hence the MOD in its name, which also stands for modern – alluding to its electrified propulsion. “With its sustainable, emissions-free electric drive, the Opel Manta now becomes immortal, independent of spares for engine and transmission or potential driving bans for older combustion engine cars,” we’re told.

But that’s about all we’re told. Will it be a regular production car, or limited special? Will us Vauxhall-buying Brits get a sniff of it? And will it be powering its wheels (presumably the rear pair, else it’s not a real Manta) with something gutsier than the 134bhp powertrain used in the Corsa, Mokka and numerous other Stellantis EVs? More as we have it…