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Vauxhall has announced improved official fuel economy and emissions figures for it's range-extender plug-in hybrid Ampera.
Changes to the way the test is carried out for such vehicles mean General Motors can now quote official figures of 233mpg, up from 175mpg, and 27g/km compared with a provisional figure of "below 40g/km".
Three-quarters of the 6300 orders or deposits received for the Ampera across Europe have come from fleets, according to Vauxhall, and with around 10,000 vehicles allocated to Europe for 2012, the company is expecting to comfortably sell out.
GM's European boss Nick Reilly expects the £5000 Government subsidy for electric vehicle to continue beyond its confirmed review early next year. "There's no specific guarantee it will last, but it doesn't make sense for a government to bring it in and encourage the technology and then take it away in one or two years," he said. "It's important because it is the first generation of these cars and they do cost more."
Reilly predicted that the cost of batteries in second-generation range-extender hybrids could come down by 50%. "Some of that will be reflected in the price, some will enable us to make a profit," he said, also confirming that there won't be another vehicle making use of the technology before a second-generation Ampera arrives in 2015. "It makes perfect sense for us to use this technology on other vehicles, but it costs so we'll wait for the second generation," he said.
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