Chevrolet and General Motors kept its mighty promise to deliver the first 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV by the end of 2016 three customers took delivery of their vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this week.
However, in Europe, the 2017 Opel Ampera-e is also ready to impress the masses with its range and fun-to-drive characteristics. Opel has announced Norway has kicked off sales for the Ampera-e with a limited volume of vehicles coming in the next few months. Norway effectively begins a staggered launch of the Ampera-e.
Following the first deliveries in spring of 2017, France, Germany, Netherland and Switzerland will become the next markets for Opel’s EV. Opel says most other European countries will then be added as production grows during 2017 and 2018.
Opel says Norway was chosen as ground zero for the Ampera-e’s launch due to its mature EV market; the country is on track to have 100,000 BEVs on its roads.
Peter Christian Küspert, Opel Group Vice President Sales & Aftersales, elaborated on the decision.
The availability of the Ampera-e will be limited due to a slow ramp-up of production at the Orion plant in Michigan. Therefore, we made a decision to go with a staggered introduction plan going first with the countries that already have some form of EV infrastructure in place or countries that have shown ambition to become EV leaders.
This has created the pecking order Norway, Germany, Netherlands, France and Switzerland. However, we are flexible here and will be able to add countries or change the order at short notice if somebody becomes so attractive because of changed policies for example. Our goal is to have enough capacity by 2018 so that we can offer decent volumes in most European countries. Our current plan has the Ampera-e being sold by e‑agents selected from the Opel dealer network in all markets, except Norway where it will be sold throughout the entire Opel dealer network as the Ampera-e will soon be Opel’s bestseller there.
The Opel Ampera-e will feature a range of 500 kilometers and can rejuvenate 150 km of range in just 30 minutes when using a fast-charging station. For interested Norwegians, order books are now open.
Comment
Too bad they don’t make more of them.
As of April 15th 2017, it is estimated they could sell 10 000 each year in Norway. About 4000 customers have already ordered the car, and are waiting for GM/Opel to make enough.
They need to hurry though.. as the Tesla model 3, want the same customers.
It is estimated that 28 000 customers are waiting for the Model 3.
The charger infrastructure is a plus, and people like Tesla as a brand.
At the same time, people are afraid the incentives will stop soon – and if a date is set, people will buy from the company that can deliver.