Vauxhall to revive Manta as electric coupe-SUV

• Range of up to 400 miles expected
• Rival to Hyundai Ioniq 5
• Due on sale in 2025

You may remember the Opel Manta/Vauxhall Cavalier Coupe as one of many small sports cars built in the 1970s and '80s, alongside the likes of the Ford Capri and Toyota Celica. Well, the British marque intends to revive this iconic name on a sporty electric coupe-SUV, going up against rivals such as the Kia EV6 and Skoda Enyaq Coupe iV.

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As you can see from our preview images, we expect the new Vauxhall Manta to adopt a sleek coupe-SUV shape, similar to that of the Volkswagen ID.5. As is characteristic of Vauxhalls, the Manta will wear the brand’s trademark ‘Vizor’ front end design, which is sure to house much of the car’s safety and driver assistance technology.

We expect the new Vauxhall Manta to be around 4.6 metres long, which puts it in the same size category as Carbuyer’s 2022 Car of the Year, the Hyundai Ioniq 5. To be competitive, it will need a range of more than 300 miles, but this should be more than possible because the Manta will sit on a dedicated EV platform from Vauxhall parent company Stellantis.

Stellantis also owns Citroen and Peuegot, and has developed a new EV platform, called STLA, which comes in four sizes: Small, Medium, Large and Frame. The last of these is likely to be reserved for commercial vehicles.

The Manta will likely sit on the STLA Medium architecture; Stellantis claims this will provide space for battery sizes of up to 100kWh, allowing for range figures touching 440 miles.

This number may seem high for a mainstream SUV at the moment, but we believe the Manta will arrive sometime around 2025, and by then such range figures are expected to be far more commonplace on cheaper electric cars.

Can’t wait till 2025 for that new car? Check out our list of the Top 10 best electric SUVs