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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.

Prize for budding young motoring journalists

By Peter Adams Motoring Issues 03 June 2009 12:39 Aspiring young car writers searching for a gateway into motoring journalism may want to start typing and enter The Sir William Lyons Award 2009. The Sir William Lyons Award, which is sponsored by Jaguar and promoted by The Guild of Motoring Writers, is free to enter and open to anyone aged between 17 and 23, of British nationality and resident in the United Kingdom. The winner will receive a trophy and a cheque for £2000 at the Guild’s annual dinner and awards evening in London.

May sales slide 4 percent on rising fuel prices, tight vehicle supplies

U.S. light vehicle sales dropped 4 percent in May--the first decline since August--as rising gas prices, inventory shortages, higher stickers and economic jitters curbed demand. The pace of sales last month--11.78 million units on an annualized basis--was the year's lowest and marked the first seasonally adjusted total below 12 million units in seven months.