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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.

Aston Martin relaunches Lagonda badge

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 01 September 2008 11:42 Aston Martin will relaunch the Lagonda marque, chief exec Ulrich Bez announced today. The famous name plate will be used on a range of upmarket cars, the first of which we'll see as a concept in 2009 – Lagonda's centenary year. What sort of cars will wear the Lagonda badge?

Volkswagen demonstrates self-driving car

Flying cars might still be on the drawing board, but automakers are making progress toward futuristic advances in driving. The latest example from Volkswagen is a car that can essentially drive itself. Volkswagen presented its Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) system this week at the European Union research project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport).