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Ford completes $14 million overhaul at its German design studio

Ford has opened a $14.5 million expansion of its design studios at Merkenich-Cologne in Germany. Global design work for Ford's subcompact and compact vehicles, including the Fiesta and the Focus, is done at the center, which is close to the automaker's Cologne factory where the Fiesta is built. The expansion is the largest since the studios were constructed in 1968 and increases the size by about 32,300 square feet to about 172,000 square feet.

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.

New Kia launches Focus and Golf attack

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 15 August 2006 09:00 Europe's fastest growing car brand – Kia – is finally wading into Europe's biggest market with a serious contender. But with a joke of a name: the Cee'd. Kia claims the five-door hatchback will be the most spacious car in the C-segment, where it will do battle with the VW Golf, Ford Focus et al.