What's the news?
In spite of the dismal sales of the old Ampera range-extender saloon, Opel is having another crack at both the name and electric motoring, and will bring its new Ampera-e all-electric hatchback to the Paris Motor Show, before putting it on sale, hopefully, before the end of the year.
We say hopefully because the Chevrolet Bolt, which is identical to the Ampera-e and which shares a factory in the US with the Opel, has recently had its first order date pushed back from August to closer to November as General Motors races to get the car to the market. Thusly, the Ampera-e could slip to the new year before it's on sale in Europe, never mind in Ireland.
When it does arrive, Opel is promising that it will break down the barriers of cost and range anxiety which have thus far held back electric car sales. In terms of range, it could be right - the Ampera-e can go for a claimed 322km on one charge of the batteries, which gives it a useful 70km advantage over the Nissan Leaf and more than 150km more range than a Volkswagen e-Golf.
Price though? That could be another matter. The Chevrolet Bolt costs USD$37,000 before you factor in state and federal government rebates for buying a battery car, which suggests that Opel, even net of rebates on VRT and the SEAI grant for electric cars in Ireland, could struggle to match the price of the Nissan Leaf.
Still, Opel's boss is being bullish. Company CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said that "electric vehicles have the potential to make a significant contribution to climate protection and emissions reduction. The new Opel Ampera-e will open the road to electric mobility by breaking down the barriers of high price and short driving range."