Vauxhall to push ‘Britishness’ in battle against the Chinese, with help from Team GB

Vauxhall has announced a partnership with Team GB, something the maker’s MD says will give the brand a renewed focus on its “Britishness”, and help it back to the UK new-car sales podium by 2028. 

Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, group managing director for Stellantis UK and managing director of Vauxhall, Eurig Druce, said: “To be on the podium of UK sales, that's where I want to be. We have a plan.

“It's linked nicely with Team GB for a couple of reasons,” he told us. “We're a sporting nation in the UK. The one sport that unites the UK population, unites all the nations, is the Olympics. Team GB, Britishness; [Vauxhall] needs to be back on the podium for 2028, hence the partnership”.

Vauxhall sold 81,821 vehicles in 2025 making it only the 13th largest car company in the UK. For context, Volkswagen, which topped the table, sold 178,599 models in the 12 months to the end of December – 118 per cent more than Vauxhall.

Vauxhall was also beaten by its Stellantis stablemate, Peugeot, plus Skoda, MG, Nissan, Toyota and Hyundai. Premium brands Mercedes, Audi and BMW all sold more cars, while Ford and Kia both found themselves in the top five. With the likes of BYD, Jaecoo and Omoda on the rise, Druce and his team will be conscious of the Chinese breathing down their necks this year.

Another element of Vauxhall’s planned resurgence will be the introduction of the sporty GSE sub-brand. “The strength of Vauxhall is the trust,” Druce told us. “They're reliable, they're everywhere, but what we are missing is anything that gives you a little bit of the excitement of the old VXR, the old GSIs, the old GTEs.

“We don't have that right now; there’s nothing in the range. But we're correcting that with GSE. I need to bring that excitement back into the Vauxhall brand”.

Vauxhall has already announced prices for the electric Mokka GSE, with plans to reveal a hot Corsa model later this year. The supermini will be based on the Peugeot E-208 GTi, with almost 280bhp, lower suspension, a wider track and limited-slip differential.

At the other end of Vauxhall’s product line-up is the bargain Frontera SUV – a model Druce reckons will be a surefire hit when it comes on stream over the next few months. “We see Frontera being the second best selling Vauxhall [this] year,” he told us. “Corsa will be number one, and Frontera? Probably 20,000 to 24,000 units – we’ve already had 10,000 orders in the first three months, and 60 per cent are EVs”.

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