Revolutionary Vauxhall Takes European Car of the Year Award
You’ve probably not seen one, or driven one and come to that, probably don’t know anyone who has and you will almost certainly, never own one yourself, but never the less, the guys who decide what’s best when it comes to new “European” cars have decided that the Vauxhall Ampera is there car of the year for 2012.
OK, the name Ampera might give you a clue, with its electrical sounding name and the fact that the euro-judges seem to give credibility to anything that’s perceived as being green, you will have figured out there is something kind of “Hy-Brid-ish” going on here and you would be right.
That said, the Ampera (and its kissin cousin the Chevrolet Volt) are pretty different to anything on offer from anyone else and in all honesty, probably represent the most useable eco-car you can presently buy.
Not going to go into big detail on this, because we will be posting a full review on-line in the future, but the Amperas motivation comes from a super-efficient, battery powered electric motor which drives the car, with the support of a petrol engine, which generates power to charge the batteries when needed. So effectively, you’ve got a battery powered car, but with your own source of charging them whilst on the move and this make “range limitations” a thing of the past and with a 150ps on tap, it isn’t a slouch either.
It’s so simple its positively clever, but before you get too excited, it’s priced at £32,500 up to £34,000 and that’s not cheap, but there are grants of up to £5,000 possible from the government to encourage you in to one.
What the Ampera does show, is what’s possible and it gives just a hint of what’s to come and for sure, as technology gathers pace we will see even more exciting and innovative vehicles.
Meanwhile, back to the European judges, because out of 35 vehicles on test, they awarded the Vauxhall Ampera 330 points, with 2nd place Volkswagen UP taking 281 points and the superb Ford Focus lying in 3rd place with just 256 points.
This is only the fourth time in 48 year history of the award that it’s gone to a Vauxhall.
