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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.

Driven: BMW Z4

Loved as it may be by its loyal fanbase, the outgoing Z4 was always something of a mixed bag in terms of design. While the car's classic long-bonnet, cab-back profile and short overhangs should have pleased the eye, the BMW's sheer frontal mass made its proportions seem out of balance. The application of the company's then-new ‘flame surfacing' form language also generated a visual business that seemed out of place on something as conceptually simple as a roadster.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe ‘British Villains’ debuts on UK TV

Jaguar’s F-Type Coupe British Villains launches in the UK With the new Jaguar F-Type Coupe about to hit UK roads in the hands of its first customers, Jaguar is ramping up the marketing for the stunning F-Type Coupe as it seeks to get the message across that ‘It’s Good to be Bad’ (#GoodToBeBad). As we reported in January, Jaguar has enlisted the services of Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong to play a trio of British Villains in an advert for the new F-Type Coupe, which debuted at the Super Bowl earlier this year. And no it’s the turn of the Uk to get the F-Type marketing onslaught with the first airing of the British Villains advert during last night’s UEFA Champions League match between Manchester United and Bayern Munich on ITV and plans to run it in one minute and 30 second versions during April and May on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky Atlantic.