GM to convert Volts to Amps in Europe

Unable to contain itself until 5 March, General Motors has announced that the European incarnation of its Chevrolet Volt five-door will be called the... drum roll, please... Ampera. GM Ampera GM's Volt Ampera: shades of the... GM also released a design sketch of the Ampera which shows pretty much what you'd expect: a Chevy …

[Anonymous Coward]

Naming.

Couldn't they have saved money on expensive naming focus groups by just re-using the good old O(h)mega nameplate?

[Chronos]

There may be...

...some resistance, but if you have the capacity you may well want to take one ohm. Also, if you buy two and put them in a double garage, do you then have a dielectric?

Sorry, couldn't resist ;o)

[Psymon]

For greatly increased punnage...

shouldn't that have been "GM to TRANSFORM Volts to Amps in Europe"?

OK, OK. I'm already putting my coat on...

[K]

Quite sexy...

But like all prototypes, the manufacturer always fucks them up!

[GrahamT]

Watt!??

Ohm I gauss!

[Fluffykins]

I can see it now

Will there be a model aimed at those with a penchant for the outside life and trips to the country?

Will it be called the Picnic (h)Ampera?

[censored]

Presumably...

they encountered some resistance, hence the Volts became Amps...

[Doug Southworth]

Looks better than the Volt

So of course they won't sell it here...

[Frank]

You Watt?

(see title)

[Mike Powers]

Hey, that looks cool!

Unfortunately, it isn't a battery-powered Cruze, so we'll never see it like that. Instead, we'll get a blandified GM-generic compact with a fancy plastic trim piece on the back and another few thousand on the price.

[Anonymous Coward]

The least they could have done

would have been to spell Ampere correctly.

</pedantic>

[Anonymous Coward]

do they come...

..with equally stylish neckirchoff ?

[Tanuki]

Why the invariable bizarre styling?

There seems to be an obsession with manufacturers of Leccymobiles to have them ~styled~ by the remedial class at the art-school-for-retards.

If you're looking to sell significant numbers of these cars, please - ditch the gawky and eye-challenging styling. Rather, think "mid-range executive" design - use something like a 5-series BMW or a Lexus GS as the inspiration.

[Doug Southworth]

Re: Tanuki

'If you're looking to sell significant numbers of these cars, please - ditch the gawky and eye-challenging styling. Rather, think "mid-range executive" design - use something like a 5-series BMW or a Lexus GS as the inspiration.'

+1, couldn`t agree more.

[b166er]

Styling

You mean to tell me the 5-series BM or the Lexus look in any way good?

Mid-range executive sounds fscking boring and bland to me.

Funk it up I say, and while they're at it, can we have a choice of colours other than pin-stripe (mid-range executive) black/grey?

Go on, dare to be different ;p

[Dick]

@ Psymon

No, no,

GM = Amps Out / Volts In

Coming not very soon (maybe) to a showroom near you, the Transconductance.

[David Halko]

Now...

If only GM would not change this new concept car much.

The latest incarnations of the Volt look terrible, bring back the concept cars!

[Lionel Baden]

@b166er

I actually agree with you on the matter, i drive a odd car myself...

But i have to agree with Tanuki just for the plain simple fact that it would sell !

I cant imagine many executives buying something like that to travel up the M4 corridor to goto meetings, it hardly looks corperate.

If they start manufacturing pure leccy cars that a corperation would be happy to supply as a company car then theyve cornered the maket assuming the product is good

[TeeCee]

About the styling.

I dunno. With that deliberately obfuscated pic it's pretty much impossible to tell WTF it's going to look like, save that the astronomical camber angle on the rear wheel would seem to indicate that it's not a "real" pic anyway and whoever drew it needs a short lesson in perspective.

As for the concept below, I suppose that if one were in the market for an electrically powered, four seat suppository, it would do.

[John Mangan]

What I want to know is . . .

why does every GM car, at least in the UK, have to be named to end in an 'a'?

[Nigel]

If ...

If GM lasts long enough to work out what the public really wants, they'll cross a Volt with an Ampera and get a ... Watt?

Getting my coat.