Ampera may outsell Volt in its first year

The Volt’s Euro twin siblings, the Ampera variants, are on track to surpass first-year Volt sales.
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

Opel Ampera Wins Monte Carlo Rally

With all of the bad news surrounding the Chevy Volt these days, I think a few fluff pieces about its kissing-European-cousin the Opel Ampera is in order. Last week I talked about how Opel was entering the Opel Ampera into the Monte Carlo Alt-Fuel Rally. Well congratulations to the two cheese-eating surrender monkeys French drivers who took their Ampera to the top spot.

It was an overall good day for the Ampera. Of the 7 Ampera teams that entered the alt-fuel rally, four finished in the Top 10. But it was the car driven by Bernard Darniche and Joseph Lambert that finished in first out of a total field of over 130 competitors. The other three teams finished in 3rd, 7th, and 8th place. This ends the Tesla Roadster’s 5 year dominence of the event, and crowns a new champion of the Monte Carlo Alt Fuel Rally.

This year’s course included a 342-mile jaunt from Annecy-le-Vieux to Monaco on the first day, and a 169 mile trip down the original rally route. This follows on the Volt/Ampera being named the European Car of the Year. If only more Americans cared about this kind of “racing”, the Volt might find a few more fans with the Fox News crew.

Source: Gas2.0

Opel has received more than 7,000 orders for Volt cousin Ampera

Opel has so far received some 7,000 orders for the Ampera electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt’s European cousin. Opel said that the numbers surpassed its most optimistic expectations for this point in time.

Enno Fuchs, Opel’s e-mobility launch director, said that the Ampera sales target of 10,000 units for 2012 is “well within reach.” Customer deliveries, which began in February, are going according to plan, according to the company.

In the US, General Motors is suspending production of the Volt for five weeks starting 19 March, due to higher inventory than demand. GM is also suspending production of the Ampera, according to the report in the Detroit News.

The Ampera and the Volt were just voted “Car of the Year 2012” by a panel of judges in Geneva, made up of 59 leading automotive journalists from 23 European nations. The Opel Ampera / Chevrolet Volt tallied 330 points against VW Up (281) and Ford Focus (256).

Opel Ampera delayed over Chevy Volt battery fears

Automotive News reports that, as suspected, Opel is delaying delivery of its Ampera extended-range hybrid to customers. The plug-in gas-electric hatchbacks have already arrived at dealers across Europe, but the automaker wants to ensure the vehicles' batteries are safe even in the event of an accident. The delay comes on the heels of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration evaluation which saw its Chevrolet Volt twin catch fire three weeks after a series of crash tests. Since the Volt and Ampera are mechanically identical, Opel says that it wants to set up a process to deal with the batteries to make sure they're safe.

Both the Volt and the Ampera are assembled at the General Motors plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, and both make use of lithium-ion batteries to power their electric motors. GM has offered to buy back any Chevrolet Volt models from owners concerned about the safety of their vehicle, but few have taken them up on the offer. The company is currently working on a solution to the fire issue, and the U.S. government is investigating why it took NHTSA so long to bring the battery pack problem to light.



Source: Autoblog Green