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The latest evolution of a true motoring icon – the Golf GTI – can now be ordered: the Golf GTI TCR1. This 213 kW / 290 PS sports car can reach speeds of up to 260 km/h, and is fitted with a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG), petrol particulate filter and highly exclusive equipment as standard. Price: EUR 38,950 (in Germany, incl. VAT.).

The new Golf GTI TCR was derived from the racing car of the same name – the two-time overall winner of the international TCR racing series. The street version passes the 100 km/h mark after just 5.6 seconds, while the maximum speed is 250 km/h. The Vmax can optionally be increased to 260 km/h.

The Golf GTI TCR is even more exclusive than the Golf GTI Performance23 (which produces 180 kW / 245 PS) and features technology such as Front Assist, Active Info Display and LED headlights. The standard equipment includes a front-axle differential lock, perforated brake discs, driving profile selection, premium front sport seats with a new microfibre/fabric design, seat belts with red edging plus an exclusive sports steering wheel. As with the racing series, its leather is specially imprinted (perforated leather) at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions as well as with a red mark at 12 o'clock.

The new Golf GTI TCR is also distinguished by the standard 18-inch Belvedere forged wheels (or 18-inch Milton Keynes alloy wheels, as an alternative), black exterior mirror caps, sill extensions, front splitter, TCR roof spoiler and a diffuser at the rear. he newcomer makes a further strong impression even before the driver settles behind the wheel, as the TCR logo is projected onto the road when the front doors are opened.

The Golf GTI TCR can be further customised with options such as a new honeycomb decor foil for the side panels, carbon door mirror caps, a black painted roof, as well as various 19-inch alloy wheels. The alloy wheels are offered as a package, which among other things includes a Vmax upgrade to 260 km/h.

The first package (EUR 2,350) includes Reifnitz 19-inch rims with 235/35 R 19 tyres, the Vmax upgrade, a sports version of the rear damping system and the DCC adaptive chassis control system. The second package (EUR 3,200) includes Pretoria 19-inch rims with racetrack-ready sports tyres (semi-slicks) sized 235/35 R 19. Here, too, the Vmax upgrade, the sports version of the rear damping and the DCC are included. This package also includes additional wheel locks with expanded anti-theft protection.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

The Volkswagen Group is establishing a Group company for energy offerings and charging solutions – underlining its strategic goal of becoming a leading provider of sustainable mobility. Elli Group GmbH with headquar-ters in Berlin is to develop products and services connected with energy and charging for the brands of the Group.

Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen brand Board Member responsible for E-Mobility: “As one of the world’s largest automakers, Volkswagen is going to force the pace of the urgently needed transport and energy transition to emission-neutral e-mobility. The new company will play its part with energy offerings from renewable sources and smart charging solutions. This way, we are entering a strategically relevant, extremely exciting business area that offers considerable opportunities for strengthening ties with existing customers as well as accessing entirely new customer groups.”

Thorsten Nicklaß, designated CEO of Elli, announced that the new Volkswagen Group company would also offer to customers outside the Group green power from renewable sources that was 100 percent CO2-neutral. Nicklaß, formerly CEO of the Digital Energy Solutions joint venture, said: “Our mission is to take e-mobility out of its niche and to place it firmly in the mainstream. The name “Elli” stands for “electric life”, because we intend to enable a lifestyle that fully integrates the electric car in people’s everyday lives. This approach could be compared with the use of a mobile phone, which is taken for granted nowadays.”

The company will gradually be building up a portfolio of intelligent power tariffs, Wallboxes and charging stations as well as an IT-based energy management system. Nicklaß explained: “We will be creating a seamless, sustainable ecosystem that addresses the main applications and provides answers to all the energy questions raised by electric car users and fleet operators.”

Up to the market launch of the Volkswagen ID., the first model based on the modular electric toolkit (MEB) in 2020, the company will successively roll out a large number of solutions that private and commercial e-mobility customers need now and in the future – ranging from hardware to charging, additional digital services and complete advice packages.

A brief overview of the business areas in which Elli is active:

@home – charging at home: green power

In future, customers will not only meet Volkswagen in dealerships and in their vehicles but also in their homes, where half of all electric car owners charge their vehicles. The services available will include green power for private households with and without an electric vehicle. Details of the first tariff models will be announced by the Group in the near future. The power offered will be Volkswagen Naturstrom® generated in a CO2-free way. 100% of this power comes from renewable sources such as hydropower plants and its origin has been certified by TÜV.

@home – charging at home: Wallbox

Customers will be able to choose between a variety of Wallbox variants for safe, rapid and convenient charging at home. The low-cost 11 kW AC Wallbox is suitable for overnight charging, a procedure that protects the battery. Full charging will take between five and eight hours. The comfort version also operates with 11 kW but also offers connectivity via attractive payment arrangements and update options.

@home – charging at home: Smart energy management and photovoltaics

A high-end DC charging station with 22 kW can make the electric car an energy storage system and part of the smart grid of the future thanks to bidirectional charging and connection to an energy management system. It will be possible to store power generated by customers’ photovoltaic systems in the car and to use it later in the household – or to feed it to the power grid in order to earn revenue. Of course, stationary battery storage will also play a key role in this context in the future. An energy management system will then decide in accordance with instructions received from the owner which type of energy is to be used when, at what price and for what purpose. As not all electric cars will be charged at the same time, the burden on the power grid will be reduced at the same time as optimizing energy costs for household use and mobility.

@destination – charging at the destination: employee parking spaces and Volkswagen partners

With Elli, Volkswagen will also be intensively involved in charging at destinations such as company car parks and dealerships. Initially, this will include the expansion of charging stations at Volkswagen’s own employee car parks from 1,000 today to more than 5,000 by 2020 and the equipment of all 4,000 dealers and service partners in the EU with several charging possibilities, also by 2020.

@destination – charging at the destination: fleet customers and chain outlets

In fleet business, Elli will provide support to the Group brands in connection with the changeover of their customers’ fleets to e-mobility. Companies without a car fleet will also be able to access , advice on the topics of energy and charging infrastructure, especially with respect to installation, operation and maintenance. Elli is in discussions concerning cooperation for the installation of charging stations at customer car parks of major chains.

Charging on the road

Finally, as a mobile service provider, Elli will also make charging in public spaces a thoroughly positive experience thanks to convenient digital payment using a charging card with tailor-made tariffs.

You will find further information on Elli with immediate effect at www.elli.eco.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen has set an important course for the future in 2018: As the first model of the future ID. family, the zero-emission compact ID. has reached the final phase of series development. In addition, with the avant-garde ID. VIZZION saloon and the racing car ID. R Pikes Peak, Volkswagen demonstrated two more fascinating facets of electric mobility. SUVs are booming worldwide: Volkswagen followed this trend in 2018 with nine new Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) – from the urban T-Cross4 to the Touareg brand flagship. Various models of different segments like the new Virtus (South America), the attractive up! GTI (Europe) or the Jetta (North America), however, made it clear that Volkswagen serves every region of the world with specific cars. This has resulted in great success: Between January and November, unit sales rose by around 280,000 year-on-year to 5.7 million Volkswagen vehicles.

Electric offensive: In March, with the ID. VIZZION, Volkswagen presented a completely automated driving saloon of the future: emission-free, range of up to 665 kilometres, can be operated via voice and gesture control and able to learn thanks to artificial intelligence. A car as a portal to the future. Three months later, with the ID. R Pikes Peak, Volkswagen revealed the purely dynamic side of electric mobility: on 24 June it pulverised the all-time record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – the legendary Race to The Clouds (Colorado/USA). It also overtook all racing cars with combustion engines ever to have started. In December, the first media representatives were able to experience live what the future of production vehicles feels like: they accompanied Volkswagen engineers on board the ID. during test drives in South Africa. The ID. is scheduled to be launched on the market in 2020.

SUV offensive: Charismatic Sport Utility Vehicles enjoy worldwide success. At the same time, Volkswagen further expanded its range of these all-rounders. The third generation of the Volkswagen brand flagship Touareg made its international debut in March with numerous technical highlights. Specially designed for China, Volkswagen also presented the particularly spacious Tharu3 (Chinese compact class), which is tailored to families, and the Tayron3 (Chinese intermediate class), which is positioned above it. The large Teramont3 and an extended and specified version of the T-Roc for the Chinese market also celebrated their debuts in China in 2018. Below the T-Roc, the new T-Cross, the first small-vehicle SUV from Volkswagen to date, was launched on an international scale in November.

As a sister model to the Teramont, the seven-seater Atlas3) is built in the USA. On this basis, Volkswagen presented the new Atlas Cross Sport1 at the New York International Auto Show (March) – a dynamic five-seater with a hybrid drive for the metropolises of North America. The series version is scheduled to be launched on the American market in 2019. The Atlas Tanoak1 – the first pickup to be based on the innovative modular transverse matrix (MQB) – presented at the same time has been part of a trial to date. As the second MQB pickup, the Tarok Concept1 presented at the São Paulo International Motor Show caused a sensation in November.It has a loading area that can be extended into the vehicle interior and is scheduled to be launched on the Brazilian market first in the foreseeable future.

Specialities for the world: With the up! GTI, a sporty vehicle in the original GTI format was launched in 2018. 85 kW/115 PS and low weight provide a lot of driving fun. This means that the GTI family comprising Golf GTI5, Polo GTI6 and up! GTI is now complete. The Jetta, which has been produced 17.5 million times, is one of the most successful compact saloons ever. Volkswagen presented the seventh generation in Detroit this year. It is now based on the MQB and was specially developed for the US market. The new Virtus is even more compact. This MQB saloon is similar to the Polo, is produced in Brazil and was launched there first.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

At the turn of the year, Volkswagen is offering a glimpse of the company’s future mobile quick charging station. It can be set up flexibly and independent of the power supply wherever it is needed: for example, in public parking lots in the city, on company premises, or as a temporary charging point at large-scale events. The mobile charging station works according to the principle of a power bank – which is familiar to many people with smartphones – but for electric vehicles instead. The charging capacity of up to 360 kWh enables up to 15 e-vehicles, including members of Volkswagen’s new ID. family,1 to be charged in stand-alone operation. Thanks to quick charging technology, the charging process2 only takes 17 minutes on average. If the energy content of the integrated battery set is less than 20 percent, the depleted charging station is simply exchanged for a charged one. If, however, it is permanently attached to the power supply with up to 30 kW via alternating current, the battery pack perpetually recharges itself. In case the charging process is based on renewable power supply, the charging station furthermore allows the temporary storage of sustainably generated power, such as solar or wind energy – and therefore CO2-neutral mobility.

The first mobile quick charging stations will be set up as early as the first half of 2019 in Volkswagen’s hometown as part of a pilot project, and will support the expansion of a charging infrastructure in the urban area. As of 2020, the charging station will also be implemented in other cities and communities.

Thomas Schmall, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components, says: “The mobile charging stations are a decisive step toward an efficient network of charging points. They can be set up anywhere as required – with or without connection to the power supply. This flexibility enables a completely new approach for the rapid expansion of the charging infrastructure. Cities can, for example, find out the most suitable places for a permanent charging point before making major investments in developing the network. In addition, it will be possible to set up a large number of charging stations temporarily – exactly when and where they are needed.”

The mobile charging stations can be set up at defined points, for example, spread out across a city. The flexible locations can be easily found via the Internet or apps. Each charging station enables DC quick charging with up to 100 kW. In addition to electric cars, e-bikes can also be charged. Up to four vehicles can be charged simultaneously: two with DC and two with AC connections. The total battery storage capacity of up to 360 kWh is sufficient for up to 15 e-vehicles. There is also the possibility of connecting to the power supply directly, allowing the station to be charged with up to 30 kW via alternating current by means of a permanent standard grid connection. This enables charging points for electric vehicles to be set up quickly and simply, without any structural changes or major financial outlay. The battery pack in the charging station can be recharged around the clock thanks to the direct power connection. This time-independent recharging, and therefore buffering of power, also considerably reduces the strain on the power supply at peak periods.

“Our mobile charging stations offer a further crucial advantage,” says Mark Möller, Head of Technical Development at Volkswagen Group Components. “It is only when an electric car is charged with sustainably generated power that it can claim CO2-neutral mobility. Our charging station is the first to offer the possibility of temporarily storing sustainably generated power.” For example, the charging station can be charged specifically with solar or wind energy, which is then transmitted to the electric vehicles during charging. Technically, the mobile charging column is based on the battery pack of the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB). On the one hand, this offers the advantage of quick scalability and, on the other hand, the charging station allows batteries from electric vehicles to have a second life. This is because a battery loses charging capacity over time. If a vehicle battery has a defined, reduced residual capacity, it is exchanged. If this battery subsequently passes a thorough analysis, it can be reused in a mobile charging station.

An efficient network of charging points is regarded as one of the basic infrastructural prerequisites for convincing customers to buy electric vehicles such as the Volkswagen brand’s future I.D. family.1 Accomplishing this is one of the major challenges Volkswagen Group Components and others must tackle to ensure the breakthrough of e-mobility. As of January 1, 2019, the Components division is an independent business unit within the Volkswagen Group. The mobile charging station is an in-house development with the goal of developing a closed life cycle for the battery. The start of production is planned for 2020.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

For 45 years the Passat has been on course for the future. Originally launched in 1973, it is now sold on every continent. Volkswagen has built more than 29 million Passat vehicles in eight generations so far. 2019 will see the start of a new evolutionary stage of the most successful mid-size car ever, as the Passat becomes the first in its segment to break through the barrier of 30 million units.

1973: A decade of fantastic music really takes off. The brothers Angus and Malcolm Young found AC/DC. Pink Floyd releases their timeless album “The Dark Side of the Moon”. All songs of the album could be heard on the radio of a new Volkswagen: the first Passat. A hatchback saloon with two or four doors and a large boot lid. More variable than any Volkswagen before. With a length of 4,190 mm and therefore slightly shorter than a T-Roc today. And yet even the first Passat offered plenty of space. That was even more true when Volkswagen launched the Passat Variant in 1974.

By 2018, the Passat had grown to a length of up to 4,887 mm. With full-size features in the passenger compartment. At the same time, it has become a true reflection of progress in the field of automotive engineering: all pioneering technological developments – from the anti-lock brake system through to modern, intelligently networked assist systems – have accompanied the Passat over the years. As an all-rounder tailored to the needs of families and business users, it has also become the most successful mid-size and company car in the world. There are independent versions and derivative models in Europe, China and the USA; together they form one of the most important Volkswagen product pillars.

As it celebrates its 45th anniversary, the Passat is again offered as a saloon and Variant. Both body versions will not just be available with a classic combustion engine, but also with plug-in hybrid drive345, which temporarily turns the Passat into an electrically powered zero-emission vehicle for urban driving in particular.

The production preparations for the new Passat are currently taking place behind the scenes at the Emden plant in North Germany. The countdown for the market launch of the next evolutionary stage of this product line will already start at the end of January 2019 – a Passat with new drive, light, assist and Infotainment technologies and a new level of online services. The first target: breaking the 30-million barrier. After the Golf (35 million) and before the Beetle (21.5 million), this makes the Passat one of the three most successful models in the history of Volkswagen.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

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