Fiat plans 500 and 500c Gucci editions

Gucci editions of the 2012 Fiat 500 and 500 convertible will go on sale in December, Fiat said Tuesday. The cars will feature glossy pearl paint, green and red stripes on the body or roof, and satin-chrome mirrors and door handles. The interior will have special embroidery, two-tone seats, leather accents along with other design touches.

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

VW reveals plug-in diesel hybrid concept, claims 261 mpg

Volkswagen has used a car show in the Middle East nation of Qatar to unveil a two-seat plug-in hybrid concept car that the automaker says will deliver 261 mpg. The VW XL1 uses a lithium-ion battery pack, an electric motor and a two-cylinder, 0.8-liter diesel engine for the powertrain. We're still digesting the press release, but here are some highlights: -- VW says the XL1 can travel about 22 miles on electricity from the battery pack.