Opel to Drop Slow-Selling Ampera Hybrid?
Adam Opel AG plans next year to discontinue its Ampera extended-range hybrid sedan because of poor sales, unidentified sources tell Automotive News Europe.
#hybrid
Adam Opel AG plans next year to discontinue its Ampera extended-range hybrid sedan because of poor sales, unidentified sources tell Automotive News Europe.
Opel introduced the €38,000 Ampera a restyled version of the Chevrolet Volt for the European market two years ago. But demand fell from 5,300 cars that year to 3,200 units in 2013. Sales this year are down 67%.
ANE says the Ampera will be dropped when GM begins building the restyled 2016 Volt a year from now. GM produces both models at a factory near Detroit. The plant began making another Volt variant, the $76,000 (€56,200) Cadillac ELR electric coupe, at the end of last year.
All three models can travel about 55 km in electric mode and another 480 km when their 1.4-liter gasoline engine/generator system is used to automatically recharge the onboard 16.5-kWh battery.
RELATED CONTENT
-
Chevy Develops eCOPO Camaro: The Fast and the Electric
The notion that electric vehicles were the sort of thing that well-meaning professors who wear tweed jackets with elbow patches drove in order to help save the environment was pretty much annihilated when Tesla added the Ludicrous+ mode to the Model S which propelled the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.
-
UPS to Test Electric Delivery Truck
United Parcel Services of America Inc. is partnering with Los Angeles startup Thor Trucks Inc. to test a fully electric Class 6 delivery truck.
-
GAC, CATL Partner on Two Battery Ventures
Two new battery ventures are being formed in China by domestic carmaker Guangzhou Automobile Group Ltd. and battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd.