Volkswagen Hybrid

A Volkswagen Hybrid? What does the sometimes biggest, sometimes second biggest carmaker on earth have to offer to the Hybrid customer?

For a long time, Toyota / Lexus was the only carmaker offering a hybrid drivetrain...for more than a decade they controlled this market...

Well, no wonder...they were the only ones. So you would expect that they have an unmatchable technology advance.

So with Toyota/Lexus and Volkswagen fighting for the title of "world's biggest carmaker' you will be intrigued to know that Volkswagen has put its hybrid cards on the table.

And Volkswagen (VW) is here to stay, they announced a global strategy based on alternative drives.

Their CEO Martin Winterkorn announced that Volkswagen's range of hybrid and and electric vehicles will account for 3 % of the carmaker's global sales.

Interestingly Volkswagen follows a top-down strategy, with its expensive high-end SUV Toureg leading the hybrid pack.

The Toureg Hybrid is a 6 cylinder V engine with direct fuel injection. In combination with an electric motor and a NiMH battery this premium SUV commands 279 kW (380 hp) of pure power, needing 11.8l/100km (19.93 MPG) in an "auto motor sport" test.

Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (about 60 mph) takes about 6.7 seconds.

VW Hybrid No. 2: The Jetta

The only caveat is the - in Germany - relatively high price tag... but Volkswagen tends to sell for lower prices abroad.

In 2011 VW will present the Jetta Hybrid to the US market.

Christian Aust, a German analyst for UniCredit is cited by Bloomberg Businessweek as saying:

VW is trying to prove that being a latecomer isn't necessarily a bad thing.

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