An advertisement for the Chevrolet Volt’s sister vehicle was banned in the UK for what an advertising watchdog group said was a misleading claim about the extended-range plug-in’s driving range, UK’s Daily Mail reports.
The ad for the Vauxhall Ampera showed endurance runners and claimed a 360 mile “range” with the implication that the propulsion source was all electricity, according to the charge. The spot noted an “additional power source” – i.e., the car’s on-board gas-powered generator – in small print. Because the ad wasn’t clear that the car only has about a 35-to-50-mile range on electric power, the Advertising Standards Authority banned it. You can see it below, though.
The Volt/Ampera’s extended-range/plug-in issue has repeatedly crept up on both sides of the Atlantic, with many electric-drive observers calling for parent company General Motors to call the model a plug-in hybrid because of the gas-powered range. Meanwhile, General Motors’ Opel division, which also sells a version of the Ampera in Europe said in June that the car was Europe’s best-selling passenger electric vehicle. The Volt/Ampera won the 2012 European Car of the Year Award in March.
