Vauxhall Ampera Earth – entry-level Ampera launched

The Vauxhall Ampera Earth has been launched as an entry-level Ampera with a lower spec. Costs £34,995 before Government grant.

The Vauxhall Ampera car – Vauxhall’s take on the range extender Chevy Volt – is a clever and appealing car if it wasn’t for the silly price.

The current Ampera range offers the Ampera Positiv at £37,250 and the Ampera Electron at £38,995, both of which are silly prices for a modest family car. True, you do get a £5,000 taxpayer bribe (for now) to jump in to Vauxhall’s range-extender plug-in, but that still means a starting point of £32,250 for a bit of Vauxhall green-ness.

But that now changes with the launch of the Vauxhall Ampera Earth, an entry-level Ampera costing £34,995, which means a headline price of £29,995 after the £5k rebate.

To get a sub-£30k Ampera you do have to give up the leather interior, parking sensors and HDD system, but the spec is still decent with 7″ touchscreen, DAB and Bluetooth in the standard spec.

It’s a decent effort by Vauxhall to widen the appeal of the Ampera, which offers the only really practical route for an electric car with its 86bhp electric motor and four-pot range-extender engine to charge the batteries.

But until plug-in range-extender cars are offered at a price comparable to an ICE car, this is going to be nothing more than a miniscule niche for those wanting to polish their green halo.

The order book for the Ampera Earth is now open and may just improve Vauxhall Ampera sales a smidge.

By Cars UK