General Motors may have had to slow production of the Chevy Volt in the U.S. due to low demand, but it's flying out the door of dealerships in Europe.
The Opel Ampera, the European version of the extended range hybrid, went on sale in Europe in February, and has already received more than 7,000 orders, according to a Digital Trends article. That's almost as many plug-in hybrids the automaker sold in the U.S. all of last year.
Chevy sold 7,671 Volts in 2011 and 1,023 units last month in the U.S. In … Read more
General Motors said yesterday that it will make 60,000 Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera plug-in hybrids in 2012, up from its previously announced 45,000 production outlook.
GM also said that its Volt and Ampera production will be 16,000 in 2011, up from a previous forecast of 15,000.
The plant in Detroit that makes the two plug-in hybrids will shut for four weeks starting in early June, which will crimp already tight supplies, GM said.
Volt, the poster car for GM's effort to tilt its model lineup toward fuel-efficiency from gas-guzzling, will experience delays in dealer deliveries this summer as gasoline prices could soar over $4 per gallon, GM said.
"Already in tight supply, the number of Volts available for delivery to retail customers will be further restricted over the next three months before production resumes and the Volt and the Opel Ampera begin being exported to Europe and China," GM said in a statement.
Volt sales are to be especially reduced in June and July, GM said.
In April, Volt U.S. sales were 493, and for the first fourth months of this year sales were 1,703. It debuted late last year. … Read more
The first 40 miles you drive in a fully charged 2011 Chevrolet Volt uses energy stored in the 16kWh battery to propel the vehicle, with the 1.4-liter gas engine kicking in only when the battery is drained and needs to be recharged. But GM engineers are working on a switch for the British version of the Volt, the Vauxhall Ampera slated for 2012, that will let U.K. drivers decide when to drive in electric-only mode and when to use the gas engine, according to an article in TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk.
The tweak is designed to suit the driving … Read more
The third car with GM's Voltec series hybrid power train was announced at the Geneva auto show, the Opel Ampera. The two cars preceding it were the Chevrolet Volt and the Cadillac Converj. The Opel Ampera shares a platform with the Volt, and the cars are nearly identical. Where the Volt has horizontal slits at the front corners for headlights, the Ampera has big gouges going down from those headlight slits to the fog lamps, but the roofline is basically the same. The Opel badge, looking kind of like a lightning bolt, is probably more representative of the electric … Read more
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