Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sneak Peek: Opel Ampera


Opel has released a teaser sketch of its new five-door extended-range electric car ahead of its public debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March. Based on the Voltec powertrain and chassis architecture of Chevrolet's Volt, the Ampera promises to surpass that car in terms of style by some margin. The body appears to be nearly identical between the A- and C-pillars, but the deformed horseshoe-shaped headlamp design and two-bar grille come straight from the 2007 Flextreme concept, as do the car's tree-branch alloy wheels. Sadly, the Ampera prototype will feature a conventional rear hatch rather than the Flextreme's novel two-piece gullwing design.