Vauxhall is expected to announce a price cut to its Ampera range-extender hybrid to bring pricing in-line with Opel, which has just lopped 17 per cent from the price in Germany.
Staff at its Luton HQ are understood to be finalising details of the ‘price realignment’, with details to be revealed on the press day at Frankfurt.
"It will just give the Ampera a bit of a lift, hopefully a bit of a boost to sales," said a well-placed insider.
If Vauxhall adopts the same percentage price cut, the £29,995 Ampera will come down to around £25k, once the government grant of £5000 is factored in.
Earlier in the day Vauxhall-Opel boss Karl-Thomas Neumann told a conference that a price cut of €8000 would reduce the entry-level list price of the Opel Ampera in Germany to €38,300.
"We really want to support E-mobility so making the Ampera more affordable is good for that," he said.
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.
Vauxhall's Ampera also faces tough competition this year from the carbonfibre bodied BMW i3 electric car, whose model line-up includes a range-extender powertrain.
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Lower price is a good start
This range-extender is one of the best selling hybrid in the US, but I've seen only a couple so far here in the UK.
Lowering the high list price is a positive step from the Vauxhall, and may help the company liven up the sales.
Rear seats
Only two rear seats equals a "family fail", so no purchase will be forthcoming from me or my social circle.
Not for the first time have GM lowered to higher list price
Vauxhall have already lowered the price of the Insignia and Astra this year.
It's good to see they've realised high list prices and then customer negotiation is not a great way to sell cars.