Hot Electric Vauxhalls Are Coming, Starting With The Mokka

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a properly hot Vauxhall. Not since the Corsa VXR was discontinued in 2018 has there been a griffin-badged car to properly get enthusiasts interested. The company has tried with its GSE-badged warmed-over hybrids, but when we tested the Astra GSE last year, we came away largely unimpressed with its performance cred.

Now, though, the company has announced that the GSE badge is going all-electric, and though that’s likely to be met with sighs of despair from those raised on crackly, torquesteering VXRs, it could well be a good thing.

Vauxhall, through a video released by the Opel brand under which its cars are sold in the rest of Europe, has teased its upcoming range of hot EVs, which promise rather a lot. We’re told the three letters of ‘GSE’ stand for things like “great grip,” “sliding through S-curves,” and “excitement” and “exhilaration.” Also, “sweat,” which is a bit gross, but we digress.

The video doesn’t give a whole lot else away, but there is a glimpse at what’s likely the first all-electric GSE model: the Mokka. Vauxhall’s little crossover, available in combustion, hybrid and full EV guises, shares its basic underpinnings with plenty of other similarly-sized Stellantis-built cars, including the Alfa Romeo Junior and Fiat 600.

Crucially, the hot electric versions of these – the Junior Veloce and Abarth 600e – have both impressed us. They pack up to 276bhp from a front-mounted motor and feature proper mechanical limited-slip diffs on the front axles, and are some of the more convincing EV performance cars we’ve sampled so far.

It’s highly likely that the same setup will feature in the Mokka GSE, turning it from a slightly weak iced Mokka into an extra-hot one. The same platform underpins the Corsa, meaning a hot version of that could be developed relatively easily too. We're also likely to see a similar setup in the upcoming Peugeot e-208 GTi.

Naturally, the GSE models will feature sportier exterior designs, and there are glimpses of things like bucket seats in the teaser video, too. The first of the electric GSE models is set to arrive later this year.