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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.

Lotus wants Carlton successor

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 07 August 2006 04:33 Lotus should engineer a new halo car like the legendary 176mph Carlton supersaloon, says the Norfolk firm's new boss. The 377bhp Lotus-Carlton was produced on Mike Kimberley's last watch as CEO, from 1983 to 1991. He's now back in the hotseat, and on the lookout for a similar opportunity.

'Porsche By Design' exhibition charts Porsche design history

Some of Porsche's rarest and most iconic cars will be showcased at the North Carolina Museum of Art's new exhibition, ‘Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed'. The collection, which consists of 22 cars dating back to 1938, is designed to explore the history and development of the Porsche lineup up until the present day. Amongst the models are a 1938 Type 64 Berlin-Rom racer, a 1963 Type 901 Prototype, 1969 Type 917 16-Cylinder Spyder Prototype and a 2010 Type 911 Sport Classic Carrera.