Monday morning, shortly after eleven. Paris Motor Show, Hall 4. Five black lanes run through the Opel stand. Yellow and white ‘Lightspeed’ stripes set accents. The Opel Blitz hovers above the lanes. Next to it, a bright yellow ‘GSE Pixel Cube’ attracts attention. The new Formula E racing car is already presented in its final design, and the Astra GSE Line can also be seen. One vehicle remains hidden: Under a cover, the Opel STX Concept is waiting for its world premiere.

Opel CEO Florian Huettl opens the press conference with an announcement: “We are pushing forward by investing in our future, with investments of more than one billion euros and four new models by 2030.” One of the newcomers is the next-generation Astra. Then the cover is removed: an estate is revealed. A low roof, a striking front and expressive wheelarch blisters. Not an SUV, not a crossover. But the Sports Tourer eXperimental Concept, or STX Concept for short. “The Opel STX Concept celebrates our long Sports Tourer history and reimagines this Opel favourite for the future,“ says Huettl. It began in 1953 with the Olympia Rekord Caravan. Now Opel is showing what an electric Sports Tourer of tomorrow could look like.

Vice President Design Mark Adams enters the stage and directs attention to the details: “The STX Concept has an even bolder, more confident brand face with a more prominent Opel Vizor and a new light signature.” Structured desirable surfaces, distinctive C-pillar graphics. Particularly striking: the rear. The roofline extends far to the rear, then the body ends and drops steeply. This is no coincidence. In an interview with the British portal Electrifying at the Paris Motor Show, Adams explains that the rear is deliberately intended to look as if it had been precisely milled off.

Almost 4.70 metres long, a wheelbase of around three metres, 22-inch wheels: The STX Concept combines the elongated silhouette of an estate with an emphatically angular design language. Extendable elements at the rear improve aerodynamics. How much of it could one day be on the road? Speaking to the British magazine Auto Express, also at the Motor Show, Adams clarifies: Not every detail is designed for possible series production. However, the basic design direction is clear.

The concept car hits a nerve. While SUVs are shaping the car market, Opel is showing how exciting a Sports Tourer of tomorrow can be. This is well received internationally. FOCUS online headlines that Opel is keeping the estate alive with the STX Concept. The British portal Electrifying speaks of a declaration of love for the vehicle class and praises the unusual design language. The study is also making headlines in France: The French technology and online magazine Clubic even sees it as a revival of the estate.

On the adjacent lane is the second world premiere: the Opel GSE 27FE. Black, silver, yellow – this is how the more than 800 hp GEN 4 racing car presents itself in its final design for the first time. With it, Opel is entering Formula E. „High performance, which we make tangible for everyone with Race, Drive and Play,“ says Vice President Marketing Rebecca Reinermann. Race stands for motorsport: The Mokka GSE Rally is now followed by Formula E – with Mitch Evans and Théo Pourchaire behind the wheel.

Drive leads from the racing car to the road. The new Corsa GSE celebrates its trade fair premiere in Paris: 281 hp, 345 Newton metres of torque, from zero to 100 km/h in 5.5 seconds. No current production Opel accelerates faster. The small car came to Paris on its own axle: 1,555 kilometres from the factory in Zaragoza over the Pyrenees and the French Atlantic coast.

Next to it are the Mokka GSE with rally genes and the new Astra GSE Line, which will offer sporty design regardless of the drive system from spring 2027. The Frontera Electric Extended Range and Grandland Electric AWD complete the line-up on the outer lanes.

Finally, Play leads into the gaming world. “Car culture no longer happens only on the road. It happens online. In communities. And in games,” says Vice President Marketing Rebecca Reinermann. Together with Ubisoft and the e-sports organisation GIANTX, Opel has developed its own race tracks and virtual vehicles for the video game Trackmania. Visitors can compete for themselves at the booth, and the professionals compete in the Opel Trackmania Cup. One of the virtual tracks is called ‘Rüsselsheim to Paris’ – a tribute to the trip to the motor show.

Between racing cars, production models and the gaming world, an estate is holding its own. Currently, it is still a concept. But the STX Concept is already causing an international stir. And it shows how much potential there is in a vehicle class that has been at home at Opel for more than seven decades. The estate has tradition. And an exciting future.