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.

33% of young take driving 'selfie'

A THIRD a third of young British drivers have taken a "selfie" while at the wheel, according to a survey. Such self-distracting behaviour is worse among young Britons than among any of six other European countries, the survey from the Ford Motor Company showed. While 33% of Britons aged 18-24 confessed to taking a selfie while driving, the figure for Germany was 28%, with France also 28%, Romania, 27%, Italy 26%, Spain 18% and Belgium 17%.

Mini auctions Kiss Countryman cars to fund global relief efforts

If Dad's Gene Simmons poster is starting to lose its luster, you should probably sign on to eBay to try to win him a custom-painted Mini forever emblazoned with that tongue. Mini and the rock bank Kiss partnered to auction four Countrymans (Countrymen?) that are custom-painted with the iconic likeness of each band member, in a 10-day Father's Day charity auction that started on May 29. Kiss band members joined Mini at the New York auto show in April to unveil the four vehicles now up for auction.