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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.

Toyota Sienna

The all-new Toyota Sienna MPV made its debut at the 2009 LA Auto Show. The third generation Sienna follows its predecessors in being a fairly conventional full-size MPV as befitting its market aspirations, but introduces innovative functional interior design features and some unexpected panache to the exterior too. Read our opinions in our 2009 LA Auto Show Highlights and see more photos of the new Sienna below: Photo Gallery: Toyota Sienna

New Kia K9 revealed

The Kia K9 arrives for Korea The new Kia K9 has been revealed as Kia’s new range-topping saloon for the Korean market. The K9 is a production version of the KH Concept. The Kia KH was teased a couple of weeks ago as Kia’s new flagship car for its home market, and this morning, to no ones surprise, the KH has been revealed as the new Kia K9, a moniker that won’t be used in overseas markets for obvious reasons (woof, woof).