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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.

Los Angeles auto show 2009: news, blogs, reviews

The Los Angeles auto show 2009 is underway! CAR's staff writer Ben Pulman and CAR Online reader reporter Car4mh are blogging from the LA Convention Center – and you can follow their live feeds below for all CAR's LA motor show news, analysis, photos and opinion in the CAR live blog. NB Newest updates added at the top, so scroll to the bottom to start on day one; all times below are local LA o'clock (eight hours behind GMT); BP is Ben Pulman, MH is Mark Hamilton 4.00pm: Stopped at the South HallMH Never mind, it's shut.

New Mercedes A-Class is “The Most Beautiful Car of the Year 2012″

The new Mercedes A-Class – perhaps set to become Mercedes’ most successful model ever – has been voted the most beautiful car of 2012. Not only that, but the new A-Class looks to be a real challenge to cars like the BMW 1 Series (except for keen drivers) and the new Volvo V40, something the old A-Class wouldn’t have had a prayer of doing, despite being the favourite car for ‘er indoors whose hubby had a big Merc. Now, to add to the accolades the new A-Class has already received from buyers, reviewers and award givers, the 2013 Mercedes A-Class has been voted “The Most Beautiful Car of the Year 2012″ by more than 100,000 car fans across 52 countries.