This news for the Opel/Vauxhall twins may come as little surprise, but as you’ll recall, GM missed its 10,000-unit target last year after the federal battery investigation and American politics were blamed on slowing momentum to 7,761 units sold.
Well, the Ampera just being introduced has over 7,000 orders, of these a good 60 percent are fleet customers, and the Detroit News reported that Enno Fuchs, e-mobility launch director for Adam Opel AG, said it will be no sweat topping 10,000 Amperas by year’s end.
“We are quite sure that our sales target of 10,000 units (in 2012) is within reach,” Fuchs wrote in an email to the publication.
We’ve been hearing similar things from European GM executives since last year, and even if things for the Volt were off to a rocky start here, the Amperas and European Chevrolet-badged Volts are being comparatively better received.
No doubt it has partly to do with high fuel prices there, and that the Volt has already passed a gauntlet in its home country further proving to progressive Europeans – particularly deeper-pocketed fleet buyers – that the car is a safe bet.
Also not hurting the situation, the Volt/Ampera was recently named the first American car to receive European Car of the Year, and – although priced like a modest luxury car – it is taking sales from competitors, including diesels, even in some countries where no tax credits exist, but a VAT tax does.
Months ago there was some talk of asking GM for more than the first year’s Ampera allocation, so we shall see whether this is deemed feasible in months to come.
The Ampera sells for 41,900 Euros (about $55,300) and it is noteworthy that from the beginning GM has invested in more Voltec variants in Europe than it has in America.
In Europe you can choose between an Ampera or Volt, whereas in the States, we have just the Volt. Perhaps we should also comb news there for test mule sitings or other clues to the second generation Volt?
Meanwhile, Volt sales are picking up here, and GM will sell more than 10,000 in the U.S, having delivered 3,915 year to date through March, and more of these were individual consumer sales.
Source: GM-Volt.com
