EU: GM's Opel Ampera surpasses sales goals

The Detroit News - General Motors Co.'s sales of the extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt aren't hitting expectations in the U.S. But 7,000 orders for its European twin, the Opel Ampera, have surpassed early goals.

"We are quite sure that our sales target of 10,000 units (in 2012) is within reach," Enno Fuchs, e-mobility launch director for Adam Opel AG, wrote in an email to The Detroit News. Opel began taking Ampera orders last summer in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Deliveries started in February.

About 60 percent of Ampera customers are commercial or fleet, Fuchs said.

GM sells the Ampera under the Opel brand in most of Europe, and under the Vauxhall brand in the United Kingdom. The automaker also sells the Volt under the Chevy brand in several European countries. The Ampera goes on sale May 1 in the U.K. Volt sales in Europe began in late February and are in the hundreds, said Marc Kempe, director of communications for Chevrolet in Europe.

The vehicles have received several awards in Europe, including being selected as 2012 Car of the Year by European journalists at the Geneva International Motor Show in March.

"It's the first car developed in the U.S. ever to win that award," said Kempe. "It's a big moment for Chevrolet and GM, and we're very proud."

The Ampera, he said, "is all about drawing attention to the brand" rather than becoming a volume player.

Both the Volt and Ampera are built at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant. Even with a gallon of gasoline in Europe about double the U.S. price, analysts such as Brett Smith of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor say the Ampera's price may hamper sales. The Volt starts at 41,900 euros ($55,817).

"That's the price of the midsize luxury car," Smith said. "You can't expect a compact car, even with a magnificent, wonderful technology that's inside it, to compete with a true luxury car."

Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com, predicts sales will be slow.

"Their situation is being compromised by the fact their economy is terrible," she said, noting that overall car sales are down in Europe. "And you're up against the competition of diesels."

And unlike the U.S., where $7,500 federal tax credits help lower the Volt's price, many European countries don't offer incentives.