Opel has set another milestone by being the first automobile manufacturer in the world to offer an electric rally car for customer rally sport. Based on the Opel Corsa-e which will make its world premiere next month at the IAA Frankfurt International Motor Show, the rally-based version will be used in the 2020 ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, the first rally brand cup in the world for electric cars.
The new rally series also represent the continuation of the successful relationship between Opel and ADAC. The past few years have already seen around 100 young drivers from 18 different countries taking part in the Opel Rallye Cup and come 2020, the Opel Corsa-e rally version will be set up to produce 136hp and 260Nm of torque.
According to Opel CEO, Michael Lohscheller, “The Corsa-e is the electric car for everyone – fully suited to everyday use and absolutely affordable, attributes that equally apply to motor sport. The new Corsa is also fun to drive and particularly dynamic. Using the production car as the basis, we are the first carmaker in the world to have developed an electric rally car.”
As for Hermann Tomczyk, President ADAC Sport, “With the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup we are bringing electric drive for the first time to mainstream sport and especially to young-driver support. The innovative concept and the cooperation with Groupe PSA open new possibilities for us, especially in the support of young drivers. I am certain that the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup will point the way ahead for motor sport far beyond the borders of Germany.”
15 rally cars are said to compete in the 2020 ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup and each customer car will be competitively priced below the €50,000 mark. That’s around RM235,544 and in our opinion, that’s not bad at all for a rally-fied electrified race machine.
