Photo: lars_o_saeltzer / Instagram
Initially, the Opel Manta was a rear-wheel-drive affordable sports coupe built by the German manufacturer across two iterations, between 1970 and 1975 plus 1975 and 1988. Its name comes from the manta ray and was mildly successful in motorsports and against the Ford Capri, for example.
Interestingly, Opel still deemed it culturally significant and decided in 2021 to present the Opel Manta GSe ElektroMOD, a beautiful EV reinterpretation of the classic design with the new 'pixel visor,' two doors, an electric powertrain, and a four-speed manual transmission. Thanks to an overwhelmingly positive reception, the company had plans for a potential series production.
However, the rumor mill recently found out those were scrapped, according to French media, along with plans for an electric Insignia successor. The news makes sense at a time when the EV revolution has stuttered and stumbled yet again because everyone who isn't Tesla has seen demand tumble into the wind. Alas, that doesn't mean folks can't dream about a Manta revival anymore.
Especially the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, who can also do something CGI about their visions. For example, the virtual artist behind Larson Design (aka lars_o_saeltzer on social media) brings to life his CGI vision of the series-production Manta for a second time after he initially wanted to present a retro-modern-styled crossover EV by the name of Manta GTE.
Now, though, the pixel master has refined the idea and has decided to morph it into a five-door liftback that could sit at the top of the Opel passenger car lineup above the Corsa and Astra series. It's hard to imagine that Opel will greenlight such a project as an EV-only, but it could easily make it part of the GSe plug-in hybrid sporty series. Alternatively, there is also the option to borrow the all-new STLA Large platform that will underpin the upcoming Dodge Charger Daytona muscle car and possibly an ICE and electric sedan from Chrysler in America based on the Halcyon preview.
By the way, if you don't like the modern take on a classic nameplate showcased here, we have a couple of alternatives that keep the spirit of the original alive and only modernize the appearance and internals. So, two recent projects from Francesco Artusato (a digital creator going by franart_design on social media) and Arthur (sev7n.cgi) think of a world where the original Acura (Honda) NSX and Ferrari 288 GTO would come back to bite the sports car sector and run away with a big restomod chunk of it.
So, what do you think? Does the world need more reinterpretations of classic nameplates like this Opel Manta EV proposal, especially considering that some of them have been widely successful – look at the Ford Maverick unibody compact pickup truck if you need an example. Or are we better off dreaming about fancy, limited-series, or unique stuff like the NSX Mugen study or the Ferrari 288 GTO idea?
However, the rumor mill recently found out those were scrapped, according to French media, along with plans for an electric Insignia successor. The news makes sense at a time when the EV revolution has stuttered and stumbled yet again because everyone who isn't Tesla has seen demand tumble into the wind. Alas, that doesn't mean folks can't dream about a Manta revival anymore.
Especially the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, who can also do something CGI about their visions. For example, the virtual artist behind Larson Design (aka lars_o_saeltzer on social media) brings to life his CGI vision of the series-production Manta for a second time after he initially wanted to present a retro-modern-styled crossover EV by the name of Manta GTE.
Now, though, the pixel master has refined the idea and has decided to morph it into a five-door liftback that could sit at the top of the Opel passenger car lineup above the Corsa and Astra series. It's hard to imagine that Opel will greenlight such a project as an EV-only, but it could easily make it part of the GSe plug-in hybrid sporty series. Alternatively, there is also the option to borrow the all-new STLA Large platform that will underpin the upcoming Dodge Charger Daytona muscle car and possibly an ICE and electric sedan from Chrysler in America based on the Halcyon preview.
By the way, if you don't like the modern take on a classic nameplate showcased here, we have a couple of alternatives that keep the spirit of the original alive and only modernize the appearance and internals. So, two recent projects from Francesco Artusato (a digital creator going by franart_design on social media) and Arthur (sev7n.cgi) think of a world where the original Acura (Honda) NSX and Ferrari 288 GTO would come back to bite the sports car sector and run away with a big restomod chunk of it.
So, what do you think? Does the world need more reinterpretations of classic nameplates like this Opel Manta EV proposal, especially considering that some of them have been widely successful – look at the Ford Maverick unibody compact pickup truck if you need an example. Or are we better off dreaming about fancy, limited-series, or unique stuff like the NSX Mugen study or the Ferrari 288 GTO idea?
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