NEWS

FORD has revealed an all-electric Ford Focus will arrive in UK dealerships by 2013. Capable of charging in half the time a Nissan Leaf takes, the Focus will offer a mile-per-gallon equivalent that beats a Chevrolet Volt, says the maker. Ford says the electric Focus will be capable of charging in three to four hours [...]

CHEVROLET is launching the futuristic Volt right now with a headline-grabbing leasing deal for early adopters. The list price is $41,000 (around £26,000) but it can also be leased in the US for just $350 a month. This is the equivalent of £222, and buys a Chevrolet Volt EREV (extended-range electric vehicle) on a 3-year, [...]

NISSAN has announced order books for the LEAF electric car will open in a month’s time in the UK. The dramatic announcement for the electric car means the first genuine zero-emissions battery electric car will soon be a car dealer reality. Prices start from £23,990. This includes the battery, and includes the January 2011 20 [...]

ELECTRIC car sales WILL be incentivised from January 2011 with the confirmation of the key £5k grant. Transport secretary Philip Hammond has just given the OK to the government grant at SMMT HQ in London. ‘Great news for industry,’ said the SMMT’s Paul Everitt, ‘and a significant commitment by the new government to create UK [...]

GREEN car gains in the short and medium term will mainly be driven by current engine tech say experts. Dave Greenwood, project director at Ricardo UK, said it would be several decades before EV and fuel cell technology made significant impacts on overall transport CO2 emissions. ’90 percent of the CO2 reduction in the next [...]

UK motorists will play a key role in the electric car future as makers say our market has the most potential in Europe. Various Government incentives have already created a fertile environment for electric cars, and the benefits of this are starting to hit our roads. ‘The UK electric car market is going to drive [...]

THINK EV cars are to be sold through the Migros supermarket chain in a new distribution model. Migros is a Swiss equivalent of the UK’s Co-op and has more than 600 outlets over there. A new platform, called M-Way, will both sell and distribute the zero-emissions electric vehicles in Switzerland. The model is, says THINK [...]

MERCEDES is getting its dealers ready for future electric cars by fitting every one with a recharge point. The firm has already started rolling out the ‘Elektrobay’ recharging points, at Surrey, London, Brentford and Midlands retailers. Recharge points will be used firstly by smart ev electric drive trial drivers, but in time will be offered [...]

GLASS’S has warned of ‘dramatic falls’ in electric car RVs unless innovative solutions are adopted. The used car valuation experts warn secondhand values could be well below conventional petrol and diesel models if key concerns are not addressed. These are currently focused on battery life and performance. In-house methodology developed by Glass’s has indicated car [...]

NISSAN has announced its LEAF electric car will cost £23,350 when it goes on sale here in February 2011. The headline-grabbing price confirms Nissan’s aim to make it a mainstream offer. ‘There is not a premium for EVs,’ said Nissan’s Simon Thomas. It is way lower than the Hyundai i-MiEV (around £10k less), and comes [...]

VAUXHALL has just built the first pre-production Ampera extended range EV on its assembly line in Michigan. This will help Vauxhall engineers put the finishing touches to the car for a production-ready design. The car will arrive in European markets later next year, before going on sale in the UK in 2012. ‘We’re right on [...]

RENAULT has started taking pre-reservations for the first raft of electric cars due in the UK next year. Interest in the zero-emissions vehicles can be registered at the firm’s special website. This does not fully commit customers to buying an EV when they become available. Instead, it lets early adopters get onto the priority availability [...]

GENEVA marks a world debut for Citroen – but most people have not noticed the new car is now out! A spokesman admitted the unveiling of the production C-Zero has not seen the crowds flocking. ‘People are already familiar with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV it’s based on,’ a spokesman told Car Dealer Magazine. ‘We’re quite open [...]

GOVERNMENT officials have revealed details of a green car grant to incentivise low-carbon cars. From January 2011, car buyers can get up to £5k towards buying a green new motor. It is called Plug-in Car Grant and will be offered by car dealers against the price of eligible electric cars such as the Nissan LEAF. [...]

CAP has declared it currently impossible to give an accurate estimate of electric car used values. Uncertainty over their performance means there are just too many unanswered questions to make a judgment. This is why, despite the UK electric cars such as the Nissan LEAF being imminent, dealers are unable to tell customers what they [...]

PEUGEOT intents to become a more premium car maker with a bold new development plan for 2015. By then, the maker aims to have ‘moved up 3 places in the world car market’. This will see it rank 7th in the ‘World Car Market’ listings, instead of the 10th place it currently holds. How will [...]

CAR rental from car dealers will stage a comeback with the arrival of green electric cars says a prediction. Consultancy Network Automotive says new types of green mobility packages will put the car dealer at the heart of proceedings. There are several reasons why dealers are set to become a central part, reckons MD Colin [...]

CAR dealers are already grumbling about future electric cars because they could potentially reduce income. Smart electric car product boss Pitt Moos admitted some dealers had been moaning to him. This is because the much-reduced servicing needs of electric cars may drive down the importance of the car dealer in the aftersales process. Electric cars [...]

NISSAN is showing probably THE most significant mainstream car of the show – the electric-car LEAF. Billed as a Ford Focus-sized five-seat family hatchback, it’s an electric-only car with a 100-mile range. It’s not based on any current production model, so the design has been honed specifically for electric drive. This makes it efficient, quiet, [...]

NISSAN is looking to build and sell the stunning electric two-seat LandGlider Tokyo Motor Show car. A designer in the project admitted that it has indeed been designed with production car intent. When pressed on a price, he said the aim would be to get the price tag in at under €30,000 – that’s around [...]