"The rumored demise of the Opel Ampera has been confirmed, but there's good news, too. Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has been busy Tweeting information about the brand's next plug-in vehicle, admitting that the Ampera is on the way out but that plug-in vehicles are here to stay. His Tweets, in full, read:
"After the eventual run-out of the current generation Ampera, we'll introduce a successor product in the electric vehicle segment".
We see eMobility as important part of the mobility of tomorrow and we will continue to drive down costs & deliver affordability.
As we learned earlier this week, the Ampera will not be refreshed when the current Chevy Volt is updated, most likely because of slow sales. Opel sold just 332 Amperas in the first five months of 2014. For now, General Motors is still building Amperas in Michigan for export to Europe"
It's seems like Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann is gloating over the failure of the Chevrolet Volt in Europe in his tweets, l find that sad, will he be any more capable at shifting EV's as a CEO? if it Opel German designed and made he might have an interest in selling them, will RHD UK get a LHD only option this time around - l think not if its a German made/designed product, it will be RHD from the first second it arrives in the UK if the gloating Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has anything to do with it this time around if the EV is born and bred in Germany.
Europeans don't want rebranded Chevys badged as Opels the Ampera should have been a lesson in that it taints the car, they want a American made based Chevy Spark EV sold as a small Cadillac to maximise profits through Opel/Vauxhall network its as simple as that.
Chevrolet Volt launch in the US was ****ed up it should have been launched as a Cadillac that matched income to status to expensive E-REV world class cutting edge car technology better, when technology become cheaper with time only then feed it down the food chain, GM are doing everything upside down the wrong way..
It then got ****ed up again in Europe, General Motors biggest single market in the Europe RHD UK got LHD only Volt that would guarantee 0 sales for anybody that done that in the UK, RHD Vauxhall UK makes up accounts for nearly 50% of GM sales some months, LHD Volt ensure an epic Volt sales failure th of which only 2 out 106 Chevy were daft enough to tool up to become authorised Chevy Volt dealers, just have 2 Chevy Volt UK dealers in GM's biggest market in Europe and fitting the steering wheel on the incorrect side of the car LHD drive would only guarantee 0 sales for anybody daft enough to try it for any car company.
GM then realising the had ****ed up changed it to the Opel Ampera hoping nobody would notice. Where General Motor ****ed up is they try to treat the Europeans like mushrooms feed them BS like this rebadged Chevy Spark, the buyers are not daft Germans & France the No2 & No3 markets for GM are very nationalistic want it built in their country to accept it, RHD British GM No1 market in Europe are cosmopolitan buyers prefer American branded cars but won't touch anything thats sent LHD, it will guarantee 0 sales for anybody that tries it.
Snakes & Ladders Europe.
Only absolute way to make a success of expensive EV technology at GM sell them in big numbers is launch it as a small Cadillac maybe on the Spark platform with a different purpose made EV like the Nissan Leaf but it would better match buyers income to car than a Leaf, but GM have ****ed up at square one on the snakes and ladder board, so it come as a Chevy Spark to the EU and Opel glue their badge on the grille that won't fool the French or Germans first question they will ask is "where is it made" Germany or France if its shipped in from USA or South Korea its down the snakes not up the ladders for General Motors, if its cheap enough it might be up a small ladder in Germany & France.
If it's LHD only offered for the RHD Brits it's a massive ladder back to square 0 where it will remain 0 sales for GM forever more not leaving the square 0. Sell it in LHD/RHD and a cheap price it will be a massive ladder up in Netherlands, Scandinavia and the UK, make it South Korea it will be big ladder down in the UK again as Brits would prefer it to be a USA made Chevy Spark rather than a Korean made Opel Spark. Make it a RHD USA Chevy Spark Brits would snap up ever one GM could deliver a big ladder to the top square.
Opel have pulled up the draw bridge on the Opel snobs at the money pit have now become a separate entity, and locked Chevy/Cadillac outside on the wrong side of the moat to ensure they stay out of Europe get killed off can't ever get established in Europe which is a very big shame. Where this is made and sourced from, which brand will get it brands badge will be on the grille will make all the difference to whether this sells or is another epic failure of awesome technology that should have been an EU leader not an epic fail like the Volt was in snakes and ladders Europe.