GSe suit passed down to Opel Grandland

Having set the performance infused ball in motion last month with the Astra, Opel has expanded its sporty and electrified GSe moniker to the Grandland in preparation for it becoming a wholly electric marque in 2027.

As with the Astra GSe, the nomenclature doesn’t come with any power uptakes and focuses more on the exterior and interior, as well as bespoke chassis upgrades.

The difference

A method similar to Toyota’s GR Sport line-up, the Grandland GSe’s visual adaptions consist of gloss black 19-inch alloy wheels, a blacked-out Vizor grille carried over to the Opel Compass, colour coded wheel arch cladding, gloss black mirror caps, a black faux rear diffuser, gloss black fog lamps surrounds, GSe badges and an optional gloss black bonnet.

Underneath, Opel has recalibrated the electric power steering as well as the MacPherson struts at the front and multi-link suspension at the rear, while also fitting Koni Frequency Selective Dampers plus stiffer springs. Changes to the interior is restricted to Alcantara trimmed seats with GSe embroidered seatbacks.

ALSO READ: No more X as Opel puts the Vizor on facelift Grandland

Up front

As per its moniker standing for Grand Sport Electric instead of originally denoting Grand Sport Einspritzung, the latter meaning fuel injection in German, the Grandland GSe derives motivation from a plug-in hybrid powertrain carried over from the standard Grandland Hybrid4.

While still powered by the familiar 1.6 PureTech turbocharged petrol engine, the electric motor count sits at two rather than the single unit the Astra GSe uses. This means not only an all-wheel-drive layout, but a combined system output of 221kW/520Nm.

Hooked to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, the Grandland GSe will get from 0-100 km/h in 6.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 235 km/h. The claimed all-electric range is 57 km.

Could come to South Africa

Poised to become available in Europe either towards the end of this year or in early 2023, the Grandland GSe could well be earmarked for South Africa after the automaker’s announcement last year that it has received approval for sales of the Hybrid4 at the expense of the initially proposed turbodiesel.

At the time, an “early 2022” launch date was announced with nothing having taken place since then. If still on the cards however, expect the Grandland Hybrid4 to become a reality in 2023 with the future of the GSe undecided.