REPORT: Vauxhall Ampera production gets snubbed in the UK
Vauxhall Ampera - Click for high-res image gallery
Where, exactly, the Vauxhall Ampera – the British version of the Chevy Volt – will be built is up in the air now that Magna, Vauxhall's new owner, has decided that the plug-in hybrid will not be built at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory. Prime Minister Gordon Brown had reportedly said that GM assured him the Ampera would be built in the UK, after U.S. production kicks off next year. But the Daily Mail is reporting that UK-based Ampera production will now likely be pushed back until the second-generation version comes along in 2015 or 2016. A "top-level source at General Motors" told the Daily Mail that the reason the Ampera will not be built in the UK right away is that GM expects low demand for the car there.
Interesting side note: the Daily Mail says the Ampera "is capable of 176 mpg." This is equal to 146.55 mpg in U.S. gallons; we have no idea where this number comes from.
Gallery: Vauxhall Ampera
[Source: Daily Mail]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wincros 5:25PM (10/13/2009)
Can we have the Ampera instead of the Volt? So tired of stodgy looking cars. Why is the Volt disguised as just another Chevy model? Did not work well for the Civic Hybrid. Unique identity worked for the Prius.
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Jon 7:18PM (10/13/2009)
Agreed. The Ampera is 1000 times sexier than the Volt.
Epyx 7:38PM (10/13/2009)
Maybe I am missing something but the Volt and Ampera dont look drastically different to me. The interior is identical, the front of the Ampera ads the Alice Cooper eyes, the profiles are the same, and the rears are basically the same. 1000x sexier equals the front clip?
3n1gma 7:30PM (10/13/2009)
Yea this one looks cooler because it doesn't have that big gaudy gold chevy badge on the front.
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Dan Frederiksen 8:16PM (10/13/2009)
I believe the UK gallon is larger so translating to US MPG would make the number bigger, not smaller
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Dan Frederiksen 8:17PM (10/13/2009)
I believe the UK gallon is larger to converting to US MPG would make the number bigger, not smaller
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Mark Tebbutt 11:05PM (10/13/2009)
Humm yeah no interest from the UK public with gas prices currently at the insignificant amount of $6.34 per US gallon. Go figure.
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skierpage 6:48AM (10/14/2009)
If it's cheaper for GM to make the Vauxhall Ampera in the US then I'm sure it's cheaper to make the Opel Ampera in the US as well, but with jobs and prestige at stake, money talks. "The [UK] Government is prepared to invest up to £600 million in Vauxhall" vs. "The German government of Angela Merkel had pledged €4.5 billion in state aid to Opel to avoid massive job losses". Poor UK car industry.
The Daily Mail is a ranting right-wing rag, but the ending paragraph is still interesting:
"Suspicions in Whitehall are also shared by some top GM executives, who believe the whole Magna deal [to take over GM Europe], which is part-funded by the Russians, is an attempt by the former Soviet Union to get its hands on General Motors' advanced car-making technologies relatively cheaply."
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Swede 5:29PM (10/14/2009)
Naturally it'll be made in Germany.
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