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Volvo V40

The new Volvo V40 is set to be unveiled at next week's Geneva motor show. The manufacturer has sought to retain characteristics from the larger Volvo models but refine it with sharper features in a more compact form, while focusing on a number of key areas within the car. It's closest equivalent – in terms of format – is the Audi A3 Sportback thanks to its mix of hatchback and wagon characteristics.

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.

Peugeot 90X breaks cover

Once a well kept secret in Peugeots Sport factory in Vélizy, near Paris, Peugeots new 2011, codenamed 90X, has been out and about for its first test at the Monza track. While the 90X complies with the new ACO's 2011 regulations, it still requires some considerable amount of work to be done to be ready for 2011. A curvier windscreen and slight change to the nose but the biggest changes are the new fin leading from the cockpit to the rear spoiler, aimed to offer more down force and avoid flipping in the case of a high speed crash.