Vauxhall Cut Ampera Price by £3500

Vauxhall Ampera prices have been cut by £3500, dropping the entry-level price for the innovative petrol-electric range-extender to £28,750, after a £5000 government grant.

Vauxhall/Opel CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann denied claims that Ampera prices had been slashed because sales were slow. He said: 'The Ampera has sold more than 5000 units and accounts for more than half electric car sales in Europe. That’s disappointing for the electric car market, not for the Ampera.'

The revolutionary plug-in electric car has struggled to fulfil its sales promise, partly because the recession has deterred buyers from adopting less-conventional technology.

Neumann went on to say that GM is 'still convinced that the range-extender is the best electric car concept'. The system works by relying on a standard combustion engine to generate energy for the electric motors that power the car, resulting in a pure-electric range of up to 50 miles and a total touring range of 300 miles with use of the petrol engine.

GM vice-president Steve Girsky also said that the range-extender technology would continue to be used, but that new models with the powertrain were unlikely to happen until 'the technology has advanced a bit further and come down in price'.