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HIGH levels of interest from big fleet buyers have prompted Vauxhall and Opel to increase sales projections for the new Ampera range extended electric vehicle.
As well as large, blue chip companies, Vauxhall says police forces up and down the UK have shown interest in the Ampera.
The model is being rolled out across Europe from the end of this year, first in Germany and will reach UK showrooms around the end of March next year.
Big blue chip companies, eager to display their own green credentials, are showing a lot of interest in the Ampera according to Opel and Vauxhall chief executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke.
Last week rental giant Europcar announced that the Ampera would be joining its fleet across Europe, including in the UK (Digest: July 14).
Stracke would not say how many vehicles were involved in the deal but described the deal as ‘significant’.
He said he expected Ampera sales across Europe to reach 10,000 a year by 2013 with 70% of sales going to fleets.
As sales increase, so will changes to Ampera production with it moving across the Atlantic from where it is currently made in Detroit.
If that happens, perhaps for the second generation of the model, Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has a strong case for winning the business.
Vauxhall managing director Duncan Aldred said that the company would now sell up to 3,000 Amperas in the UK next year and it had also increased the number of specialist dealers it wants for the new model from 15 to 23.
He hopes to be able to hit volumes of 5,000 Amperas a year from 2013, a number limited only by supply of right hand drive vehicles from the US factory.
The Ampera will go on sale at just under £34,000 although the Government’s £5,000 grant for environmentally-friendly vehicles will bring this down to £28,995.
As well as large, blue chip companies, Vauxhall says police forces up and down the UK have shown interest in the Ampera.
The model is being rolled out across Europe from the end of this year, first in Germany and will reach UK showrooms around the end of March next year.
Big blue chip companies, eager to display their own green credentials, are showing a lot of interest in the Ampera according to Opel and Vauxhall chief executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke.
Last week rental giant Europcar announced that the Ampera would be joining its fleet across Europe, including in the UK (Digest: July 14).
Stracke would not say how many vehicles were involved in the deal but described the deal as ‘significant’.
He said he expected Ampera sales across Europe to reach 10,000 a year by 2013 with 70% of sales going to fleets.
As sales increase, so will changes to Ampera production with it moving across the Atlantic from where it is currently made in Detroit.
If that happens, perhaps for the second generation of the model, Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has a strong case for winning the business.
Vauxhall managing director Duncan Aldred said that the company would now sell up to 3,000 Amperas in the UK next year and it had also increased the number of specialist dealers it wants for the new model from 15 to 23.
He hopes to be able to hit volumes of 5,000 Amperas a year from 2013, a number limited only by supply of right hand drive vehicles from the US factory.
The Ampera will go on sale at just under £34,000 although the Government’s £5,000 grant for environmentally-friendly vehicles will bring this down to £28,995.