Neon Light Undercar / Underbody Remote Control Kit 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.

2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe, the AutoWeek Drivers Log

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JONATHAN WONG: There are some cars that look good, and then there are a few cars that look downright gorgeous. Astons fall into the latter category (except for the DB9 Volante). This Vantage coupe with its DBR9 racing green paint job is hard to miss--not for being an over-the-top, outlandish-styled car like a Lambo, but because it's just so beautiful.

Peugeot Exalt concept to bring shark skin suit to Beijing

Peugeot has 'accidentally' leaked an image of its Exalt concept car ahead of its debut at the Beijing auto show next Sunday. The four-door sedan follows the form language introduced by the 2010 SR1 concept, but is perhaps most closely related to the Onyx of 2012 in terms of execution if not format. As with the Onyx, the Exalt features a series of innovative, natural materials – something PSA design director Jean-Pierre Ploué confirmed to Car Design News would become a Peugeot hallmark – including an exterior surface finish inspired by shark skin.