Date:         Thu, 6 Jan 2005 13:51:32 -0700
Reply-To:     jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Subject:      Vw news
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Global Auto Report

Detroit News staff, wire and Bloomberg News reports

VW won't build U.S. manufacturing plant

Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, won't build a manufacturing plant
in the United States and instead will rely on increased production from
factories in Mexico and Brazil, the company's chief executive said. The
company in December said it would be "careless" not to consider building in
the United States, particularly for models conceived for the U.S. market,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing Georg Flandorfer, marketing
and sales head for the Volkswagen brand. Volkswagen lost as much as 1.2
billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the United States last year, said Frank
Witter, chief executive of Volkswagen of America, in an interview today at
the Los Angeles show. He cited the dollar's decline against the euro, which
makes imports from Europe to the United States more expensive, as one reason



Diesels better than hybrids, VW chief says

Gasoline-electric vehicles only provide fuel savings in stop-and-go driving,
Pischetsrieder insists.

By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News


LOS ANGELES -- Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder challenged
the auto industry's emerging penchant for gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles,
saying diesel cars and trucks are a better way to curb pollution and fuel
use.

VW, the largest producer of diesel-powered cars and light trucks, is
developing advanced diesel engines and fuels that emit less carbon dioxide
and offer better fuel economy than gasoline-electric hybrids.

"Any significant reduction of fuel consumption under all conditions requires
diesel technology," Pischetsrieder said in a speech Wednesday at the Los
Angeles Auto Show. "Volkswagen is uniquely positioned to lead in this area."

He said hybrids -- which rely on gasoline and electric motors -- only
provide meaningful fuel savings when motorists are in stop-and-go driving
situations.

"On the highway, they use substantially more fuel than modern diesels, and
they cost more to produce," Pischestrieder said

California and some other states are forcing automakers to develop vehicles
that emit less pollution. Last year, California accounted for 42 percent of
all hybrid sales.

Because of strict pollution rules that limit harmful emissions, such as
soot, the sale of diesel-powered vehicles are banned in California, the
nation's largest auto market, and in New England.

Demand for hybrids may rise to 3 percent of U.S. auto sales by 2011, up from
less than 1 percent now, J.D. Power & Associates estimates.

Diesel passenger vehicles may increase to as much as 15 percent in a decade
from about 3 percent now, said Anthony Pratt, an analyst at the Westlake,
California-based firm.

Diesel vehicles represent about 10 percent of VW's U.S. sales,
Pischetsrieder said. That percentage will grow, he said. "We will promote
and advertise diesel engines because we think they are the wave of the
future," he said. 
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jimt
Planned insanity is best.
Remember that sanity is optional.
http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info)
http://www.westydriver.com