REPORT: Vauxhall unsure whether Ampera will be built in UK
Vauxhall Ampera - Click above for high-res image gallery
Just the other day, reports from the British motoring press indicated that the Vauxhall Ampera wouldn't be built in the UK as initially planned. Instead, the extended-range electric vehicle would reportedly be shipped over from America where the Ampera would presumably be built alongside the Chevy Volt at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan.
Further, those same reports suggested that GM's European arm would wait until 2015 or so to begin UK production when the second-gen model was ready. Not so fast, reports Autocar. According to an unnamed source (aren't they all?) at Vauxhall:
Apparently, no decision has yet been made on where or when the Ampera will be built overseas and there's still plenty of time before the car is scheduled to go on sale in the UK in early 2011.There has categorically been no decision on where European production of the Ampera will take place... But in order to justify production at any European plant there will need to be sufficient demand and this, rather than the launch of the second-gen model, will drive the decision on timing.
Gallery: Vauxhall Ampera
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Invisible 9:04AM (10/15/2009)
Every time I see the Volt, I see a 1995 Dodge Stratus.
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Mark Kiernan 9:20AM (10/15/2009)
The UK is a very good country to showcase the Ampera.
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Flaninacupboard 10:01AM (10/15/2009)
Oh my god, "need to be sufficient demand and this, rather than the launch of the second-gen model, will drive the decision on timing"
Sufficient demand??? Petrol is $6.76 a US/Gallon here! in the summer it could well hit £1.30 a litre, which is $7.99 US/Gal.
This car is going to save me at least £1,800 ($3,000) a year on fuel. if my work, or shopping centres, or the cinema or restaurants install chargers i'll save even more.
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Throwback 10:57AM (10/15/2009)
i am sure the hold up has more to do with the Opel sale than anything else.
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Jason M. Hendler 6:10PM (10/15/2009)
... so initial production will come from Detroit. It's just a matter of time when production will begin somewhere in Europe, perhaps in addition to production in the US.
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