I am sad that you didn't use a picture of the part of the Ampera that I like better than the Volt: the front end. Others here will argue, but the face of the Ampera is beautiful to me in comparison to the Volt, which seems designed to blend in with every other hybrid and hide in shame.
After 18month my impression is the same but I'm sad when I realized this cars has been abandoned by vendor.
In effect she was unsuccesiful for 4 negative point (that realize so few sells in Italy (and also Europe)):
- a few range
- just a slow charge
- so lower!
- too much expensive (and Opel in EU is a non luxury brand, so as the same price as Ampera you can find a luxury Bmw; Mercdes, Lexus, ecc)
The car is very low, yes, and the airdam scrapes endlessly. It can be removed without much effect, fortunately. No one has found much difference in efficiency without it, at least slower than about 120kmh.
The slow charge and small range using electric power comes from the design. The design primarily was to make a car that can be a car without compromise, and *also* electric. 95 percent of daily drives fit within that range, so it should be good for most people most of the time. For all the rest, the car shrugs and turns on the petrol engine. No bother, no worrying, just suddenly "whirrrrr" and you keep going. Similarly, the charging speed was chosen so that it meets most people's needs over a night, and there was basically no public charging available. Since all the charging would happen at home, there was little need for it to finish faster than 10 hours, and if an unusual need occured....? Petrol. Whirrrrr and you go. The car does not limit you. Good enough.
Today, now, of course, that's not good enough. Twice as much battery would make people happier, for the same cost. Charging twice as fast would make people happier, because they could use the public charging that now exists. But that is now, not 2008 and 2009, when the designing was done.