Opel Ampera – Click above for high-res image gallery
German newspapers are reporting that General Motor’s European unit, Opel, is seeking a hybrid powertrain partner to reduce development costs as the automaker eyes the future rollout of more gas-electric vehicles. Opel boss Karl-Friedrich Stracke was quoted by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as saying:
Hybrid technology is becoming increasingly more important. We are not holding any concrete talks but a cooperation would be certainly a good way to cut costs. We need hybrid technology starting with compact cars and upwards.
Opel is betting the U.S.-built Ampera (a rebadged Chevy Volt) will be a hit in Germany and expects to sell at least 10,000 units in 2012. But that won’t be enough for Opel to hit the European Union-mandated target of 95 grams per kilometer of CO2 by 2020 and that’s why Stracke sees a hybridized future.
