The next Vauxhall Corsa will be electric only, cost £22k, and look *a bit* like this GSE

Under all this fantasy gaming aero lunacy resides your next Vauxhall Corsa.

This fantasy being the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo, and like any self-respecting concept car it's got a punchy selection of vapour-stats. To whit: twin motors, 800bhp, 0-62 in 2.0 seconds and 199mph top speed.

Oh and it's a "phygital premiere". While Top Gear saw an actual full-size model at the Munich show – and it'll also be at the Gran Turismo World Series event in Berlin on September 20 – it'll soon be playable in Gran Turismo 7 for PlayStations 4 and 5. Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi has given it his blessing.

At the front is a giant splitter and an S-duct into the bonnet to aim air over the roof. Giant discrete wheel arches control air over the sides as well. Keeping the back down are an active diffuser and spoiler.

Inside, it's nicely simplified, with the base of the race seats moulded into the floor and the backrests into the cage structure. Pedals adjust to suit. Some displays shine through the dash upholstery, so it does without screens.

But peer beyond the maxed-out aero, and the panelwork and glazing of the next Corsa, due in 2027, are visible. Design boss Mark Adams calls the surfaces 'fluid'. Some of the face and tail detail are indicative too. "The illuminated compass nose and tail and the slimmed-down visor." Compass is his coinage for the cross motif that runs between the headlamps and up over the bonnet centreline. Visor is the black band between the headlights.

Opel/Vauxhall European boss Florian Huettl says this concept is a "bold preview of things to come". He wants to emphasise Vauxhall is rediscovering the GSE sporty line. The production Mokka GSE, standing alongside the concept, is the first outing for GSE as an EV.

The next Corsa, Huettl confirms to Top Gear, will be electric-only. But if the EV market is still sluggish in 2027, and that seems likely in eastern and southern Europe, then the current combustion Corsa will be sold alongside.

Still, Huettl is aggressive in his promises for pricing on the new electric one: it'll start at €25,000 (£22k). Although not with 800bhp obvs.

It will use the new Stellantis 'STLA Small' electric drive system, underbody and suspension, which is more sophisticated than the Stellantis 'Smart Car' bones used by the Frontera, Citroen C3 and Fiat Grande Panda.

This means it can have more sophisticated features, more power and more battery. Which the upper Corsas are going to need to compete against the rival electric superminis the VW Group was touting at its launch event a couple of hours earlier – the VW ID Polo and Cupra Raval.

Vauxhall needs a kick up the backside. It's slipping in relevance in the UK. So far in 2025 it's sold fewer cars than Audi or BMW or Ford or Hyundai or Kia or Mercedes or Nissan or Peugeot or number one VW.

"It needs to do more," Huettl told Top Gear emphatically. "It is deeply rooted. It has loyal customers. The task is a more significant share. The Grandland is doing well and the Frontera is coming. There are developments in the dealer network. We intend to be the national brand and to have that share." To do it he didn't rule out pushing sales by cutting profit per car, in effect making better offers to get the buyers in.