The Vauxhall Corsa GSE will be quicker yet cheaper than the Volkswagen Golf GTI when it lands in the UK later this year. 

Despite being pitched in the traditional ‘junior’ hot hatch class, once occupied by cars such as the Ford Fiesta ST, the new EV has the performance to outmatch many full-sized performance cars.

With 277bhp, it takes 5.5sec to hit 62mph from rest, beating the 5.9sec of the benchmark Golf GTI - and the 5.7sec taken by its electric equivalent, the Volkswagen ID 3 GTX.

That also makes the Corsa GSE quicker than the rival Alpine A290 (6.4sec).

The Corsa GSE will be priced from £34,495, or £32,995 if – as expected – it gets the £1500 Electric Car Grant from which the standard Corsa benefits. That's roughly on a par with the A290, and £9000 less than the GTI.

The Corsa GSE is Vauxhall’s first hot hatch since it discontinued the Corsa VXR eight years ago and is claimed to bring "the sporty GSi genes of the Vauxhall Nova into the future".

As with the new GTi version of its Peugeot 208 twin, the Corsa GSE swaps the regular Corsa Electric’s 154bhp motor for the 277bhp unit that's also deployed in the Abarth 600e, Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce and Vauxhall Mokka GSE.

Power is delivered to the front wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential and Vauxhall said it has tuned the throttle and brake pedal responses to emphasise the GSE's sportiness. The car also gets reworked axles front and rear, as well as stiffer anti-roll bars and new dampers with hydraulic bump stops.

The suspension sits lower than the regular Corsa's and the cambered 18in alloy wheels are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres. Both the weight and feedback of the steering have been increased and the rack is quicker. Stopping power is provided by four-pot Alcon brakes front and rear. Three-spoke alloys hark back to those on the original hot Nova, with a flat-faced design to improve aero performance.

As with the regular Corsa, the GSE features several drive modes that alter the car's character. In its normal setting, it is capped at 228bhp to preserve range. The Eco mode cuts this further – although Vauxhall has yet to confirm to what extent – and limits the top speed to 93mph. Sport mode, said to be designed for track use, uncorks the full 277bhp.

The exterior tweaks that distinguish the Corsa GSE from regular variants are more subtle than with the previous VXR. Indeed, its treatment with black contrasts around its vents and wheel arches echoes the relationship between the early 1990s Nova GSi and its stablemates.

Inside, it is clear that the GSE is a more focused proposition than the standard Corsa, with chunky tartan bucket seats, green seatbelts and an Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel. The pedals, meanwhile, are finished in aluminium.

Alongside the pricing, Vauxhall confirmed the Corsa GSE has an official range of 232 miles – 31 miles greater than the closely related Mokka GSE. 

As previously reported by Autocar, the hot Corsa will be followed by a high-performance variant of the larger Astra to rival the Golf GTI.

This will look to capitalise on the gap in the market left by the discontinued Ford Focus ST and Honda Civic Type R while also trading blows with the Cupra Born VZ and Kia EV3 GT.

The GSE sub-brand is instrumental in Vauxhall's plan to shed its dowdy image and cultivate a new, more desirable one. This, it is understood, is because new Chinese competitors majoring on value threaten to steal what has long been one of Vauxhall's main selling points.

"Vauxhall scores highly for rational appeal but not so much the emotional," the brand's commercial director, Michael Auliar, told Autocar.

Vauxhall-Opel CEO Florian Huetti previously said "sportiness" represents the "next step" for the British and German brands as they look to better differentiate themselves from in-house Stellantis siblings, such as Peugeot and Citroën.