Opel has taken the decision to postpone the launch of its new hybrid plug-in model Ampera, the European twin of Chevrolet Volt. The move comes in the wake of the safety issues concerning the batteries of the Volt, issues that forced General Motors to announce that the all-electric Chevrolet Spark will be equipped with different lithium-ion batteries.

American authorities are still investigating the three cases of Chevrolet Volts catching fire in the aftermath of standard crash tests, with the flames that were generated by sparks coming off the battery package. Opel announced that until the investigation will shed light on the causes of the inconvenience, the whole process will be put on hold.

Opel has already begun to distribute the Ampera to its dealership networks in Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium, while Chevrolet has already launched the Volt in Europe with the symbolic delivery of two units to the American embassy in France. A Chevrolet spokeperson confirmed that the investigation carried on by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US over the fire risk of the model will not be affecting the schedule of its launch in Europe.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States will begin a formal investigation of the fire risk concerning the Chevrolet Volt. The decision was made public through a note published on the safercar.gov website dated December the 6th, and came after two of three crash-tests conducted by the NHTSA in November resulted in one battery pack catching fire and one smoking and emitting sparks, three weeks after being subjected to those tests.

Chevrolet has sold about 6,000 Volts so far - all of which are equipped with the OnStar emergency notification system - but at the moment there are no reports of any road accident resulting in battery-related fires. NHTSA is already working together with General Motors engineers to establish the cause of the problem and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the damage on the lithium-ion battery.

via | Detroit Free Press

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How many Opel Amperas or Chevrolet Volts does the world need? A Buick-badged Opel Ampera could be in the making, according to Bloomberg, which would take the range-extending vehicle into a new premium brand and price-point. General Motors is apparently considering a Buick Ampera but hasn’t given the green light as yet.

The problem would seem to be how to distinguish the Buick model from the Opel/Chevrolet model, and then to justify its price-point given that Buick would have to offer something slightly more luxurious. Under consideration are ways to extend even further the range, or possibly add light materials but it’s likely that would prove to be an over-investment in the project.

A Buick-badged Ampera could also use a more traditional refurbishment of the interior to provide more luxury, and make for a more comfortable car in terms of high-quality finishes. Still, it would be quite expensive. The Chevrolet Volt costs about 41,000 USD while the Opel Ampera pricing in Europe is about €41,000. If a Buick Ampera appears, sales would start in 2013.

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Recently in Europe, diesel and petrol prices for our two family vehicles cost me respectively €1.413 and €1.526 a litre. So in considering a future family car, anything with low fuel consumption and possibly even a hybrid model would be more than welcome. If only we could afford it.

The Opel Ampera was set to be Europe’s version of the Chevrolet Volt, but now we’ll get both of them on the market and both for what is, frankly, a price most customers wouldn’t (or couldn’t) afford. The Opel Ampera will cost €950 less than the Chevrolet Volt at €41,000 euros. The Volt comes in at €41,950.

The choice to bring the Chevrolet Volt to Europe at that price appears even more bizarre when you consider that the Opel Ampera was already set to be available on the European car market. We can’t see either of these models driving out of showrooms in large numbers, despite the crisis in European fuel prices right now.

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The Opel Ampera pricing announcement will have made things difficult for the market launch of this model next year. With a general price across Europe of 42,900 euros, that makes the Ampera an expensive vehicle here. What’s more, the price is not market specific at this stage, with individual market prices to be announced later.

We can only assume that those prices will be higher when local taxes and optional extras for each individual European market are taken into account. The Chevrolet Volt (the US model the Opel Ampera is based on), costs about 41,000 USD as a starting price. At the current exchange rate, the euro Ampera price announced equates to about 58,000 USD.

According to Autocar, the UK Vauxhall Ampera could cost less and currently on that market there is an incentive scheme of 5,000 pounds for “eco-vehicles”. Nice if you live in England and still want to spend the money, but we can’t help wondering if Opel didn’t just price its Ampera right out of the European market.

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To welcome Vauxhall’s Ampera(European sister of the Chevrolet Volt) GM’s British brand had supermodel Erin O’Conner was on hand at the Chelsea Bridge to launch the new electric car wearing an electric dress designed by British fashion icon, William Tempest.

The event was part of the promotional campaign ahead of the official release date in 2012, but it was O’Conner and the dress aptly named the ‘Eric Electric ‘ that got most of the attention.

I’m sure that most of you are just dying to know that the dress featured more than a 1000 lights and Swarovski crystals and that the dress was modelled closely on the car and that Tempest is the designer of stars, that include Emma Watson, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham.

Wendy Towler, spokesperson for Vauxhall, commented: “The Vauxhall Ampera is truly innovative, and just like William’s dress, there’s nothing else quite like it. With both William’s and Erin’s cutting-edge style and green credentials, we felt the Ampera presented the perfect opportunity for them to collaborate again on something they are both passionate about.”

Source | the greencarwebsite.co.uk

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The Opel Ampera has yet to see the market, but an electric SUV version is already in the works, according to reports. The large electric sedan is the European equivalent of the Chevrolet Volt, and now that Opel looks set to remain firmly in the hands of General Motors, the Opel Ampera is almost guaranteed production.

In that case, we could see an Ampera launch as early as 2011, with the electric SUV version turning up in 2013. The SUV may be a stand alone model or it could represent a new range with petrol and diesel models, too.

Source | Automarket

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GM would have been the first company to sell an electric vehicle with extended range if Fisker had not presented the Karma in Detroit this year and if BYD had not released F3DM. Anyway, Chevrolet Volt will be in the minds of many people because it was the first car with that proposition to be presented by a major carmaker. In other words, it will probably be more affordable than any of its competitors. This is why Opel also aims to have its Volt on offer in Europe. And the name of the car in the Old World will be Ampera.

As we can see in these pictures, the car’s silhouette is exactly the same one presented by Volt, shaped by wind tunnels. Its range is also the same: 60 km only with its lithium-ion batteries. That leads us to think most of the technical specs will be the same. The combustion engine that generates electricity for Volt was said to be a turbocharged Family 0 1-litre three cylinder engine, which could lead it to run up to 1,030 km on a tank of fuel, but the new engine will be a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol powerplant.

The engine that really moves Volt ahead is an electric engine that produces 150 bhp and 370 Nm. Top speed is 161 km/h. Volt is 4.40 m long, 1.80 m wide, 1.43 m tall and has a 2.69 m wheelbase, with a 301 l luggage compartment. Geneva will reveal how close these numbers are from Ampera.

Source | Opel

Opel Ampera

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Chevrolet has released shots of its Chevrolet Volt, that show the final look of this American hybrid and its technological aspects. You may as well save the photos at this stage, as the Volt itself won’t appear on the market until the end of 2010, while the new Toyota Prius and Honda Insight have got a jump on Chevrolet.

Chevrolet is still pursuing its hybrid programs though, with an agreement with LG to produce new batteries in its Michigan facilities. It’s not a bad looking car for the hybrid segment, though I don’t really get the shot of the flowers in the boot - economic friendliness taken too far when the norm is a set of golf clubs…?

Continue reading: New images of Chevrolet Volt

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In addition to the presentation of the Volt, and the on the eve of the international debut of the Cruze world car at Paris, Chevrolet has announced the engines that will be destined to equip these two models, giving us some details about what we can expect.

Factory production will take place at Flint in Michigan, a city with some General Motors history. Investment in the project will be around 370 million dollars, and will be the base for the 1.4 litre, four cylinder production of “Family Zero”.

The engine will be created in two versions, the first, an aspirated one, will have power of about 100hp and will support the Volt’s electric engine. The second however, will be a turbo compressed unit of 140hp.

Continue reading: Chevrolet announces Cruze and Volt engines

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General Motors is making a move in difficult times with the Chevrolet Volt, making an exclusive preview presentation to staff, in a gesture of appreciating the sweat and hard work of personnel in making this model possible.

The company is underlining the strategic importance of this vehicle, that at times took on chimera properties. The car will revealed around 16th September, celebrating 100 years of GM, although it won’t necessarily be a fully fledged example of the series. The only restriction for staff is to leave cell phones and cameras at home.

Continue reading: Chevrolet Volt: staff to get first look

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One step at a time, even a chimera like the Chevrolet Volt is moving towards production, although slowly. Bob Lutz, for his part, continues to release information on the eletric from GM.

This time it’s the price that’s been revealed. According to the Detroit boss it will about 40,000 dollars, which is around 10,000 more than previously quoted. Future (patient) customers however, can count on such an ecological vehicle being a big incentive for the state (we’re talking about 7,000 dollars of contribution).

Despite the re-positioning on the sales list, Lutz says that the Volt won’t generate profits for GM, though this isn’t curbing developments on the project. As Lutz says, by 2025, “more than 25 percent of cars will be electric or hydrogen powered”, confirming some recent Dutch research on the theme. First in, best dressed, costs notwithstanding.

Via | Autoblog.com

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