UK Prime Minister Pledges £90m for Electric, Hybrid Car projects

28 July 2008

The Sunday Times. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged £90m (US$179 million) to help make Britain “the European capital for electric cars” last week at the British International Motor Show last week. He said the money would be available over five years to support electric, hybrid and other environmentally clean car projects.

GM Europe president Carl-Peter Forster took the opportunity at the show to pitch a deal to the Prime Minister that would result in GM’rsquo;s manufacturing an E-Flex version of the Vauxhall Astra in the UK.

Forster said that [GM] was seeking a national sponsor for a “super credit” scheme that would allow ultra-low carbon-dioxide vehicles (below 50g/km)—like its E-Flex cars— to offset larger and more polluting models. If Britain was prepared to champion this idea within the EU, GM would consider making its electric vehicles at the Ellesmere Port plant on Merseyside.

The first [European] E-Flex model will be based on the next generation of Vauxhall Astra, which will be made at Ellesmere Port. GM anticipates first-year production of 30,000 cars for Europe. Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman in charge of production development, believes that worldwide production of E-Flex cars could be 1m by 2020.