Those nostalgics waiting for the ‘electric comeback’ 2025 of Opels’s 1970s icon, the Manta, might be disappointed, as Stellantis is said to ‘freeze’ the plans, not to say ‘ditch’ them altogether. According to the French car magazine L’Automobile, an ‘internal evaluation’ has led to that decision.

And if the French magazine’s sources are correct, there won’t be an electric version of the Insignia either. On the contrary, the Manta-e legacy will live on in the DS8 (to be launched in 2024), the DS7 (2025), and the Lancia Gamma (2026), which are planned for the same Melfi plant in southern Italy, where the Manta-e was supposed to be built.

Revival of an icon

Opel’s former CEO, Michael Lohscheller, launched in 2021 the idea that the German brand would introduce an emotional electric model mimicking its iconic Manta model by the middle of the decade.

The Manta GSe ElektroMOD concept shown looked like a 1970 Manta converted to an electric drive – the ‘MOD’ in the name for ‘modern’ and ‘modification’. Opel said that this refers to technical and stylistic modifications and catering to a modern lifestyle. Apart from changes to the drive system, the Manta GSe ElektroMOD would also feature the fully digital cockpit from the Mokka-e.

That new electric Manta was to carry the ‘Opel Vizor’ face, which, for the first time, was introduced in the concept car that was a mock-up only without a drivetrain. That Vizor face will likely be one of the few design clues remaining in future models.

Another leftover from the Manta-e study is the GSe label to become a sub-brand for the more dynamic electric models, with the ‘e’ indicating the electric drive. GS/E used to stand for Grand Sport, and the E referred to ‘Einspritzung’, which at the time replaced the outdated carburetor technology with a refined injection that realized more power at lower consumption and emissions.

Exit Lochscheller

Initially, the feedback on the Manta GSe ElektroMOD study presented as a rendering in March 2021 had been so “overwhelming” that Opel’s market research would undoubtedly influence a potential series version.

In an interview with Business Insider, Lohscheller at that time said that “in his wildest dreams, he had not expected the feedback to be so overwhelming. At the moment, I’m still totally gobsmacked because we’ve only shown a few first pictures, not the whole car,” the Opel CEO said. “Germany seems to be waiting for the Manta.”

But Stellantis wasn’t waiting for Lochscheller. Unsatisfied about the second fiddle he had to play in the new Stellantis management, Lochscheller decided in July 2021 to quit after being Opel’s CEO for nine years and head for Vietnam to become CEO of the new car brand VinFast.

Opel had announced that Renault DACH boss Uwe Hochgeschurtz would take over in Rüsselsheim as of September, as Lohscheller had “decided to take on another challenge outside the Stellantis Group”.

But Vietnam didn’t become Lochscheller either; he left after four months for personal reasons and jumped later to American hydrogen truckmaker Nikola in August 2022 to succeed Mark Russell as CEO. He didn’t keep that chair for an entire year either, as in August 2023, he announced stepping down immediately ‘for family reasons’ and returning to Europe. Today, he’s self-employed.