Norway First European Country to Sell Opel Ampera-e
The Norwegians are coming! The Norwegians are coming! Not to sign on the dotted line for Ben Horne’s Ghostwood development project, but to be among the first in Europe to drive the all-new Opel Ampera-e.
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Sales of Opel’s all-electric hatchback kicked off this month in Norway as part of the brand’s staggered launch. Due to limited volume, Opel is ensuring that the initial batch of Ampera-e vehicles will hit countries where EV infrastructure is already in place or where the government has shown considerable ambition in the effort to move away from combustion engine vehicles.
Norway was a natural choice for the Ampera-e’s first market, as EVs accounted for a 22% share of the new car market in 2015 and numerous policies—up to and including purchase tax and VAT exemptions and free parking and toll access—encourage drivers to consider alternative powertrain vehicles. The first offerings will arrive in the spring.
“The availability of the Ampera-e will be limited due to a slow ramp-up of production at the Orion plant in Michigan,” said Peter Christian Küspert, Opel Group Vice President Sales & Aftersales. “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.”
Opel plans to make Germany, Netherlands, France, and Switzerland the priority after Norway, and additional European countries are expected to receive the Ampera-e in late 2017 and throughout 2018.
“Our goal is to have enough capacity by 2018 so that we can offer decent volumes in most European countries,” Küspert added. “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.”
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