The letters used to mean something modest — a slightly stiffer Corsa with a stripe. The GSE brings 280 Nm from its front-mounted motor, a fake gearbox with eight steps, and an overboost button that makes the right kind of noise about it.
It should not work. A simulated gearshift in an electric supermini is exactly the kind of thing that dies in the focus group, and yet on a B-road the stepped delivery genuinely helps you place the front end, and the chassis is happy to rotate a little on the way into a corner.
At £27,500 before the grant it is not cheap, but the index already shows dealers discounting to £25,800 within a month of launch. The record to beat: a GSE listed at £890 under market, sold inside four days.
