96-03 Polaris Xplorer 400 4x4 Motor Engine Cylinder Jug Head on 2040-parts.com

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.

One Lap of the Web: Mercedes-Benz SLC rendered, Google Glass for the Tesla S and a rusty Datsun 280ZX

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Last month we brought you some intriguing spy photos of a Porsche 911-fighting Mercedes-Benz coupe -- possibly to be called the SLC, or even the next SLS AMG (it's all a bit unclear at this point) -- but layers of camouflage made it a bit tough to see what the car will look like.

Cadillac sets the base price for the 2011 CTS-V wagon at $62,990

Prices for the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V wagon will begin at $62,990, including destination charges. Available with either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission, the CTS-V is powered by a 6.2-liter V8 delivering 556 hp and 551 lb-ft of torque. Options include Recaro heated and ventilated driver and front-passenger seats ($3,400); 19-inch aluminum wheels ($800); midnight Sapele wood-trim package ($600), and a suede steering wheel and shifter ($300).