Eideard

Volkswagen’s electric city car, the Nils concept car, is still my favorite. Click on the photo for many more – costing much, much more. If any of these ever made it to production.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Shanghai Convention Center was little more than a rice paddy, but this week, the sprawling facility will play host to what has rapidly become one of the world’s most important auto shows.

By a quirk of the calendar, this year’s big Chinese car show not only overlaps but threatens to overwhelm the New York Auto Show and its ability to garner valuable media time – a development that echoes the rapidly transformation occurring in the global automotive business.

Michael Dunne, the founder of Automotive Resources Asia – today a part of J.D. Power and Associates – recalls his first trip to China, barely two decades ago, when the roads were ruled by bicycles, motorbikes and buses, and the sight of an automobile was enough to draw everyone’s attention. Today, the most populous nation on Earth is also the biggest automotive market, having surpassed the U.S. two years ago, never to look back.

There will be a number of major launches that might have, until now, been steered to New York. Yet few could have anticipated that boom…Even as recently as 2007, skeptics wondered just how much more growth the Chinese car market could support. But that year was a milestone for a number of reasons. One that many initially missed was the decision by several major Western automakers to stage significant global previews at the Shanghai Motor Show for the first time. That included the debut of the BMW CS Concept car – which would only eventually return to the U.S. and a domestic preview at New York’s Jacob Javits convention center…

Few will downplay the significance of the 2011 Shanghai Motor Show. By one estimate, as many as 100 different electric vehicles will be displayed by the scores of manufacturers participating in the event. That’s no surprise considering the Beijing government’s increasing emphasis on battery power to help it overcome the country’s endemic pollution problems – and to reduce the Chinese dependence upon foreign oil…

But there’s no question that the days when the U.S. and Europe dominated the auto show circuit are over – much as the old, industrialized markets are no longer the drivers of automotive sales growth.

For Americans there even was a time back in the day when the European auto shows were meaningless. Volkwagen and Volvo changed that forever. The last people to respond were the Detroit Big 3.

This time around give credit where credit is due. Detroit iron – especially General Motors – were quick to respond and even quicker to profit from demand in China that still looks to the United States for economic guidance. Recognizing the difference between what’s good and what’s bad – but, not rejecting the knowledge from either.

Volkswagen has had two of the most loved models in the history of the automobile, both originally built on the same chassis. It’s not surprising then, that the company keeps reprising them, bringing their relevance into focus.

The latest evolution of the iconic Microbus/Kombi wagon surfaced in Geneva. The new ‘Bulli’ concept offers a flexible layout, seating for six, a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery, an 85 kW electric motor with 260 Nm torque,140 km/h (87 mph) top speed and a range of 300 km (186 miles).

There’s still not enough range just yet for a serious escape vehicle – if there’s no electricity available where you’re going, you’re on a 90 mile leash – but suitable as an urban electric all-purpose vehicle…

The electric Bulli will probably not be the first of this shape available, as VW pointed out that both petrol and diesel direct injection engines can be accommodated by the front-wheel-drive design.

Like many vehicles in Geneva, the tablet or iPad has been used in the center console as a multifunctional touchscreen interface and controller. In the Bulli, it acts as an interface for Internet-based applications, the media and entertainment functionality of the vehicles’ telephone and navigation.

This year’s Geneva Show is turning out to be a real show for lifer car-nuts. There are a few more concepts and – more important – ready for production models I’ll be posting about over the rest of the week.

At the dawn of the millennium, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, who is today Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, set his sights on creating a practical everyday use production car with a fuel consumption of 1.0 liter per 100 km (235 mpg). In 2002 a prototype VW 1-Litre was unveiled, which was followed in 2009 by the second-generation model, dubbed the L1, which boasted a combined diesel fuel consumption figure of 1.38-liter/100 km (170 mpg). As impressive as that figure is, the company has now managed to squeeze a combined fuel consumption of just 0.9-liter/100 km (261 mpg) with its third-generation VW 1-Litre prototype – the XL1…

With the hybrid system engaged the prototype XL1 accelerates from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 11.9 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h)…In electric only mode the TDI is decoupled from the drivetrain by disengaging a clutch, and it is shut down. Meanwhile, the clutch on the gearbox side remains closed, so the DSG is fully engaged with the electric motor. Using what is known as “pulse starting”, VW says the restarting of the TDI while driving is very smooth. The electric motor’s rotor is sped up and quickly coupled to the engine clutch, which accelerates the TDI to the required speed and starts it.

Under certain conditions the load shared between the TDI engine and the electric motor can be shifted so that the turbodiesel is operating at its optimum efficiency level. Additionally, the gears of the automatically shifting 7-speed DSG are also always selected with the aim of minimizing energy usage with the engine controller taking into account parameters such as the accelerator pedal position and engine load, as well as the energy supply and mix of kinetic and electrical energy at any given time…

Viewed from above, the car is widest at the front and narrows towards the rear for an improved aerodynamic profile, which VW says resembles the aerodynamic lines of a dolphin. The dolphin-like looks continue to the side profile with the roofline tracing an arc from the A-pillars to the rear.

To prevent air turbulence the rear wheels are fully covered and the air flows have also been optimized by small spoilers in front of and behind the wheels, while the door mirrors have been replaced with digital cameras that send images to two displays inside the vehicle…

When the L1 was unveiled in 2009, Volkswagen indicated it would be entering production in 2013. We’ll be interested to see if this updated model is on track for that date or whether the company hopes to bring the XL1 into production before then.

Latest rumors say late 2012 for consumer purchases. And – yes – it will be expensive. Those goodies in materials and special shapes don’t come cheap. What is significant is there is little that is extraordinarily expensive or off-the-wall engineering. A great deal is off-the-shelf from VW’s production plants. We’re getting to where with proper scale, this can become affordable.

RTFA. Lots of dynamite photos.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

They arrived expecting to be quizzed on the financial expertise they would bring to a role at one of the world’s most prestigious investment banks.

Instead, applicants interviewing for a job at Goldman Sachs were asked: “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?”

The question has been ranked as the oddest posed at a corporate job interview in the US last year. It topped a list that could prompt many jobseekers to break into a cold sweat.

Google, the internet giant, which has established a reputation for pitching its job interviews in the left field, asked some applicants: “How many basketballs can you fit in this room..?”

Volkswagen, the car manufacturer meanwhile asked: “What would you do if you inherit a pizzeria from your uncle?”

Laura DeCarlo, the head of Career Directors International, said that employers used the questions to discover which candidates were “creative under pressure”.

“There might not even be a correct or realistic answer, but they want to see you develop a step-by-step response – and discover how easily you will quit,” she said.

I hate questions like this. Almost as much as that special bane of common sense – repeat interviews from HR directors who think multiple interviews will save them from hiring a maniac by mistake.

It’s fun playing them.

At the end of August, we reported that Audi would “more than double” its lineup of clean diesel models in the U.S. within the next year, or maybe two. Those words rolled from the lips of Audi U.S.A’s chief marketing officer, Scott Keogh, who adamantly claimed that the company’s highly efficient TDI engine was key to the company’s “growth and success in the [U.S.] marketplace.” Keogh’s admission that the automaker would unleash more TDI-equipped models on U.S. turf was the first time in which we recollect an Audi official uttering such words.

Now, here’s take number two. Audi of America spokesperson Brad Stertz attended a panel to discuss Green Car Journal’s 2010 Green Car of the Year tour. Stertz reinforced Keogh’s statement and added that Audi’s successful TDI-powered A3 model has encouraged the automaker to quickly move forward with plans to bring additional clean diesel vehicles to the U.S. According to Stertz, six out of ten A3 hatchbacks sold in the U.S. are of the oil-burning variety. Stertz added, “We thought we’d be lucky if (A3 sales in the U.S.) would be 18 percent TDI. We’re only limited by the fact that we can’t import any more.”

Stertz reconfirmed that no less than a pair of new diesel models bearing the four-ringed emblem will hit American showrooms by the end of 2012 and additional reports suggest that an oil-burning option will be available on every Audi model by 2015. Clearly, Audi, and even partner Volkswagen, have made tremendous strides in eliminating the American belief that diesels are smoky, stench-filled vehicles of the past. In doing so, both automakers discovered the key to oil-burning success.

I can understand someone like Ford sticking with their turbo-ized small-displacement gasoline engines. They’ve made a commitment to that solution for that part of the potential market. Just as Toyota did with hybrids. Like Toyota, sticking with the drill for significant period of time is required.

So far, the result seems to be sales increasing faster than available product. Not exactly a bad problem.

German renewable energy company LichtBlick on Wednesday said it has teamed up with carmaker Volkswagen to bring miniature power stations for home use to the market in the spring of 2010.

A number of energy companies are experimenting with small scale power units, but so far this market has not posed any competition to large, integrated power suppliers…LichtBlick, whose name translates to “a glimmer of hope,” said this could change in the long run.

“By selling home power plants for decentralized and flexible power production, LichtBlick opens a new chapter of intelligent energy provision,” Christian Friege, chairman of the Hamburg-based company, said in a statement. “…we know how power and gas markets work and how to organize distribution. In Volkswagen, we have won an ideal partner,” he said.

LichtBlick, which currently has 490,000 green power customers, said it was aiming to sell 100,000 units called “EcoBlue” to create the equivalent of a 2,000 megawatts power station…Run with Volkswagen natural gas engines and eventually intended to be fired by biogas from non-fossil sources, the new units would produce power on demand, store heat and thus produce a constant hot water supply, it said…

But instead of just burning fuel, they would become able, via smart meters, to push power back into the electricity grid at short notice at times of load shortfalls, becoming a big alternative supplier.

The units would be marketed in Hamburg first, and later in other parts of the country at an individual installation cost of 5,000 euros per household, LichtBlick said.

Essentially, this is a lease package producing hot water and electricity for the home. The hot water is for heating and typical hot water consumption. The electricity should produce a surplus to be sold back into the grid.

Am I tempted? You betcha.

Megasite for Volkswagen Factory
Daylife/AP Photo

Amid a sluggish national economy and angst in the American auto industry, Volkswagen is ramping up construction of its $1 billion assembly plant in Chattanooga.

Just days away from pouring the project’s first concrete, about 50 VW, Hamilton County and state officials stood on a gravel pad Wednesday at what will become the plant’s body shop, eyeing the Enterprise South site.

“Everything’s perfect,” said VW Plant Manager Frank Fischer.

While an official groundbreaking ceremony won’t take place until January, Mr. Fischer said the paint shop will be the first building to be constructed, and it will be larger than planned.

“We’re building it for 1,000 cars per day,” he said, adding the work is “coming along very well. We’re very happy about it.”

Despite a slowing American auto market, Mr. Fischer said VW’s board is dedicated to the Chattanooga project, which is to start vehicle production by 2011 and employ 2,000 people.

I know I bore you all when I say this – but, I wish they’d build me a mid-sized diesel pickup truck.

This award won’t do ‘em any harm either.

A clean-burning diesel sedan, Volkswagen AG’s Jetta TDI, won the “Green Car of the Year” award at the Los Angeles auto show, the first time a diesel-powered car has taken the industry’s top environmental honor.

“This signals that clean diesel has arrived,” said Ron Cogan, editor of Green Car Journal, the trade magazine that awards the prize.

Diesel, a conventional combustion approach long favored by Europeans, has been making inroads into the U.S. market as a here-and-now option to make engines run more economically and pollute less…

Diesel engines have also suffered an image problem in the U.S. market due to an association with the underpowered versions sold in the 1970s. The technology has been largely limited to large trucks in the United States, even though it is a perennial top seller among passenger cars in Europe.

Volkswagen’s five-passenger Jetta TDI, which boasts a fuel efficiency of 41 miles per gallon, starts at $21,990, compared with $17,340 for a traditional Jetta.

1. There is NO good reason for diesel fuel being more expensive than gasoline in the United States. Level the federal and state excise taxes – and let her rip.

2. The typical rationales about the American consumer not accepting diesel tech is total crap. A symptom of the conservatism and cowardice of American and European carmakers. Toyota was able to walk into the U.S. with brand-new hybrid tech, spend the money on advertising and build a market based on reality not myth – and now they own the leadership of the economy segment.