Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 15:41
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - Trilogy

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/261636/

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 17:51
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - unthrottled

Car of the Year =automotive equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest.

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 17:58
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - jamie745

Car of the Year =automotive equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The most politically correct un-offensive example always wins?

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 18:07
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - unthrottled

No. Just that the jurers know who they are going to vote for before they see the competitors!

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 18:24
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - jamie745

The one with the shortest skirt and nicest legs?

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 18:31
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - unthrottled

Noooo! the one who's agreed to vote for them next year-and agreed to give your mutual enemy, Germany, nil points.

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 18:35
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - jamie745

Im going to stick to my short-skirt-nice-leg tactic when it comes to voting in any such thing.

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 19:06
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - Bobbin Threadbare

You're going to have to get into motorbikes then Jamie

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 21:41
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - barney100

£37,000 did I see? will be interesting to see how many they sell.

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 23:03
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - primeradriver

So the "European Car of the Year" is an American car, not even built in Europe.

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Mon 5 Mar 2012 23:07
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - jamie745

So the "European Car of the Year" is an American car, not even built in Europe.

Yes but think of it this way; Chrysler's new advertising campaign makes out the new Chrysler range is from Detroit 'Motor City', Michigan, that its American in every way, when in reality they're rebadged Fiats with no component made in America.

The Ampera is built in Michigan yet is portrayed to us as a British car.

Universal balance and all that.

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Tue 6 Mar 2012 03:38
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - colinh

The COTY jury seem to be getting a reputation for choosing duds - after last year's Nissan Leaf poor sales, now the Ampera/Volt:

"GM last week said it was suspeding production of the Volt..in Michigan and sending about 1,300 workers on unpaid leave from late March to late April because of poor sales." FT

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Tue 6 Mar 2012 10:06
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - madf

Designed in faults killed VOLT sales in the US:

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/12/chevrolet-volt-battery-issues-growing-safety-findings-may-have-been-suppressed.html

Fairly typical GM in my view...

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Tue 6 Mar 2012 11:32
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - unthrottled

Battery fires are an inherent issue when you start trying to rapidly charge/discharge lithium ion batteries. Everyone focus on battery capacity-which isn't an issue when you have a generator on board. That's why hybrid systems tend to be used as auxillary devices. Dropping in a 100KW electric motor and a high capacity battery into a conventional car is not difficult.

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Tue 6 Mar 2012 12:27
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - davecooper

I like the styling. If there were a petrol version for half the price, I might consider it.

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Tue 6 Mar 2012 15:18
Vauxhall Ampera - European Car of the Year - Ampera - jamie745

The COTY jury seem to be getting a reputation for choosing duds - after last year's Nissan Leaf poor sales, now the Ampera/Volt:

The jury dont look at objective practical things when choosing the winner, like whether it'll sell or not. They pick the politically correct car which they think we should be buying to save Mr Polar Bear and they think if they give these cars enough awards we'll rush out and buy them.

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