The electric car must be affordable for a wide range of people
The automobile is facing a transition to a new era. For decades, petrol and diesel engines were the defining drive types, but in the near future part-electric (hybrid) and full-electric cars will join them.
It is in this context that Volkswagen presents five automobiles in Shanghai that give a presence to the future. Three of them are united by a new label for zeroemissions mobility: blue-e-motion. The Up! blue-e-motion concept car shows how the electrically driven city specialist of tomorrow will look. In this case, “tomorrow” is already beginning in 2013. That is the launch date for the production version of the Up! blue-e-motion.
The Golf blue-e-motion – the electric version of the most successful car in the world – confirms the suspicion that pure electric cars will also find a place in mass production. Last but not least, the Lavida blue-e-motion clearly shows that Volkswagen will naturally be producing electric vehicles tailored to the needs of the world’s most significant auto motive market. The Golf blue-e-motion will also debut as production versions in 2013, the Lavida blue-e-motion will follow soon after.
Ahead, there is the Passat Lingyu with a hydrogen fuel cell, also designed in China in a joint venture with the Tongji University. This saloon is still a pure research vehicle. Yet, the zero-emissions four-door shows how Volkswagen is researching all conceivable approaches to the mobility of tomorrow. Already part of the today’s world is the new Touareg Hybrid – one of the first genuine off-road hybrid all-wheel drive vehicles; it is very likely the most advanced SUV in the world.
The range of these five vehicles shows how multifaceted the auto mobile future will be. Whether the pure electric car is in the style of the Up!, Golf or Lavida, the fact remains that if it is to conquer the world in a big way it must be affordable.
Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, comments: “To be a resounding success, the electric car must be affordable for a wide range of people and must be uncompromisingly practical in everyday use. Only then − at high production volumes and if possible on all continents − can one truly speak of the beginning of the era of the electric automobile and of measurable positive effects on the environment.”
Volkswagen is building new bridges to the era of electric mobility with pure electrically powered versions of the Up!, Golf and Lavida – which in their production versions will be the affordable, mass-produced electric cars of tomorrow, provided that there is sufficient govern mental support. Volkswagen’s declared goal: The high-tech brand wants to take electric vehicles out of their status as niche models with bestsellers in the mould of the Golf to establish itself as the market leader for a new type of sustainable mobility by the year 2018. In Germany, for example, plans by the federal government call for about one million electric cars to be driving on the roads by 2020.
Once again, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Manage ment of Volkswagen AG: “Future electric cars give us enormous opportunities for shaping mobility to be more sustainable. In the interest of the environment, however, we must ensure that the energy for operating these electric cars is generated from renewable sources. Since automotive manufacturers have no influence on types of power plants, governments must assure the utilisation of environmentally friendly energy sources. Only then will we experience a historical turning point.”
In parallel to the electric vehicle offensive, Volkswagen is systematically moving forward with the introduction of new hybrid models. Already being sold on the European market is the Touareg Hybrid now appearing in Shanghai; in 2012 a hybrid version of the Jetta will debut, followed by the Golf Hybrid and Passat Hybrid in 2013. Just as systematically, Volkswagen will continue advanced development of its extremely efficient petrol, diesel and natural gas engines (TDI, TSI, EcoFuel), since it is an indisputable fact that there will definitely be a coexistence of a wide variety of drive technologies until far into the future. Also indisputable is the fact that the present, in the year 2010, offers more answers to the future than ever before.
| 
Print version | 
Email to a friend | 
View other articles
Related categories: Hybrid and electric car Volkswagen
