The de-oiled lightning bolt – Opel in search of a new identity


What is Opel and what do we stand for? That is a question that many are currently asking in Rüsselsheim. Because after the Hessians were first shackled by General Motors from Detroit, then had to dance to a Parisian whistle as a new addition to the PSA family and are now looking for their place in the huge Stellantis group, your own identity is more important than ever. And only if you find a convincing answer to this question will you have a secure future in the most colorful brand bouquet that a car company currently has to offer.

Quentin Huber and Pierre-Oliver Garcia also know this, who in marketing and design are less concerned with models than with the brand itself and are now spurring self-discovery with a very special project. Because they are among the initiators of the Manta GSe ElektroMod, which looks back and forward at the same time and wants to create a new identity for Opel.

A good 50 years after its debut, the Manta is one of the brand’s most famous and sought-after classics and one of the few Opel classic cars with a high coolness factor – even if thanks to Till Schweiger and his Manta film, especially with a target group that a company is, well, not necessarily proud of. There are uglier accessories than a foxtail.

“Emotions entirely without emissions”
And because the team around Huber and Garcia did not simply restore the car, but – following the trend towards the “RestoMod” – thoroughly modernized it and also electrified it, it also represents the future of which they are dreaming in Rüsselsheim. After all, Opel sings the hymn of e-mobility louder than any other Stellantis subsidiary and plans to offer electric or at least electrified variants in every model series in three years’ time. “This Manta combines the best of two worlds,” say the initiators of the de-oiled lightning bolt: “It generates maximum emotions without any emissions.”

The idea of ​​a powered vintage car is not new. Jaguar started converting the legendary E-Type into an electric sports car years ago, and you can now buy electric kits for Beetles and Bulli at VW. But with the ElektroMod, Opel has spun the thread a little further. Instead of just tinkering with a modern drive in the old car, the Hessians have brought the whole car into the new era and turned the clock forward five decades: digital instruments light up in the original dashboard, and the soundtrack for the photo shoot comes from a Bluetooth soundtrack between the seats. They have integrated speakers and even a navigation system into the cockpit.

Neon yellow and Vizor grill as proof of identity
And of course the GSe, painted in a neon yellow ennobled to the new brand color, wears the Vizor grill that Opel introduced with the Mocha and declared the future face of the brand. It is not for nothing that the designers name the Manta as the most important source of inspiration. This is how what belongs together comes together.

However, the Manta modders have not simply reached into the Mokka’s spare parts store, but have already taken the next step: The Manta GSe’s radiator shield becomes a PixelVizor and thus a giant display through which the time-traveling PS retiree communicates with his surroundings. It introduces itself, brags about its properties, provides information about the charge level or shows the flash for what it is naturally – a light signature. However, this Vizor only got the blessing of the TÜV after the scripts were switched off and the daytime running lights could be frozen. Before such a display goes into series production, not only the developers but also the lawyers will probably have to drill a few thick boards.

But now it’s time to fine-tune. Because everyone in the company is keen to use the TÜV seal on the license plate and finally to release the Manta into the freedom of public road traffic. After all, there is no crawler motor under the hood, as is often the case with such individual pieces, which hardly allows more than walking speed. Together with an external partner, Opel installed a package with a lot of power: 147 hp and 255 Nm – that’s 50 percent more than the original and make this Manta the most powerful of its kind. At least the most powerful that has ever received the official blessing of the factory . And even the Corsa-e or Mokka-e with their 136 hp are left behind.

Either automatically driven or via the traditional four-speed gearshift, it drives the rear wheels in the classic way and should peel a lot of rubber from the 205 tires that Opel pulled onto the 17-inch rear wheels during kickdown. And with a bit of luck, you can reach more than the 150 km / h that Opel allows for Corsa & Co. The energy for this is provided by a battery with 31 kWh, which is charged within four hours and should therefore provide enough energy for 200 kilometers.

Speculation about series production
A legendary car, a cool design and the hope of lots of driving fun without any oil stains on the garage floor – thanks to such promises, the self-discovery project has now acquired such a dynamic of its own that it has long been more than just a positioning and PR campaign. Because even the few, very cautious kilometers that individual employees were able to drive with the Manta during the conversion were so fascinating that they suddenly smell the morning air: That is why they are already dreaming of institutionalizing such conversions and maybe even making some money with it. And company boss Michael Lohscheller cleverly uses the ElektroMod to spread speculation about a new edition of the Manta as a battery-powered car and thus to emphasize the commitment to the electrification of the model range.

But despite all the enthusiasm for the battery drive, the Manta makers have retained a certain skepticism and therefore took into account a golden rule of the MOD scene: “Everything that we have installed can be restored without damage,” says Garcia and explicitly closes the electric drive with a. How serious they mean it is shown not least by a detail: To be on the safe side, they didn’t even reset the mileage, but simply programmed the 55,143 kilometers of the original into the digital cockpit as the first value.

Benjamin Bessinger / SPX