1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle Base 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Elio TV ads, Waivecar free EV carsharing

Waivecar is a new carsharing service that allows users two free hours of EV driving. The rentals are paid for with advertising, and each Chevrolet Spark EV in the fleet has an ad board affixed to its roof. So, while the driver enjoys free use of the car, the organizations buying the ads get exposure wherever the user goes. Drivers pay $5.99 per hour past the first two free hours of use. The company is undergoing a three-month trial in Venice Beach and Santa Monica before considering possible expansion. "We're giving to the lower-income people that need cars," says Waivecar CEO Isaac Deutsch. Read more at Green Car Reports. Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller is calling for a reworking of European emissions testing. He feels it is time to adapt the tests so that lab results more closely reflect those of real-world driving. "The industrywide discrepancies between official test results and actual usage is no longer tolerable," says Mueller. "We, the industry, need to take a new path." He also says he will make VW more environmentally friendly, and that the automaker plans to roll out 20 new electric vehicles by 2020. Additionally, Mueller is urging politicians to support the building of charging infrastructure. Read more at Bloomberg Business. Elio Motors has launched its first television ad campaign. The 30- and 60-second spots for the three-wheeled EV are titled "Own The Future," and will air on a variety of cable networks including ESPN, Fox News and National Geographic. "Our grassroots and digital efforts have helped create a strong – almost rabid – enthusiasm for our vehicle," says Elio Motors Founder and CEO Paul Elio. "As our funding situation continues to make progress, we are now in a position to share our message and create more fans through this national advertising campaign." Read more in the press release below. Elio Motors Continues Momentum with Launch of First National Television Advertising Campaign PHOENIX, Jan. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elio Motors (www.eliomotors.com) today announced it has launched its first national television advertising campaign to continue building consumer awareness for the company's three-wheeled vehicle that is expected to get up to 84 MPG and sell for a targeted base price of $6,800. The company, which anticipates production to launch in late 2016, has already gained an enthusiastic following through grass-roots events and digital marketing.

VW issues orders for police version of e-Golf

If the Toyota Prius could be used (in fiction, anyway) as a quiet way to do a drive-by shooting, then a pure electric vehicle should have some silent benefits for the police. It's happening in the real world thanks to the new police-spec VW e-Golf. On display at an international police equipment conference in Germany this week (the Internationalen Fachmesse fur Polizeiausrustung), the 5-0-ready EV has a special paint job as well as the required top lights and digital communications gear. VW says the special e-Golf also stands ready to serve the mission of emissions reduction. The powertrain is the same as what you'll find in the civilian e-Golf, which means an 85-kW electric motor that can zip up to 62 miles per hour in 10.4 seconds and a li-ion battery that provides something between 80 and 118 miles of range. We imagine using this little car for a high-speed car chase will shrink that down a bit. Volkswagen Konzern prasentiert Fahrzeuge mit Spezialausstattung auf Polizei-Fachmesse Internationale Premiere: Der e-Golf* als Polizei-Einsatzfahrzeug Der Volkswagen Konzern prasentiert eine breite Palette seiner Fahrzeugmodelle mit speziellen Polizei-Sonderausstattungen auf der 8. Internationalen Fachmesse fur Polizeiausrustung. Vertreten sind die Marken Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, SKODA und Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge. Die Volkswagen Leasing GmbH komplettiert als Finanzdienstleister den Konzernauftritt. Die Fachmesse findet vom 9. bis 11. September 2014 auf dem Messegelande in Leipzig statt. Als Messehighlight wird der e-Golf als Polizeieinsatzfahrzeug prasentiert. Damit verfolgt Volkswagen auch in diesem speziellen Fahrzeugsegment das Ziel der Schadstoffreduktion. Die Ausstattung umfasst neben der Sondersignalanlage unter anderem Digitalfunk und das klassische Erscheinungsbild in typisch blauer Beklebung. Ausgestellt werden weiterhin ein Golf Variant, ein T5 und ein Audi Q5 als Funkstreifenwagen sowie ein SKODA Octavia Kombi RS und ein SEAT Leon FR in der zivilen Variante. Fachbesucher finden den Volkswagen Messestand in der Halle 1, Stand H02. Der e-Golf uberzeugt mit einem wegweisend niedrigen Verbrauch von 12,7 kWh/100 km. Der Elektromotor leistet 85 kW/115 PS und entwickelt aus dem Stand maximal 270 Nm Drehmoment. In 4,2 Sekunden werden 60 km/h erreicht, nach 10,4 Sekunden 100 km/h. Die Reichweite liegt je nach Streckenprofil, Fahrweise, Einsatz von Komfort- und Nebenverbrauchern sowie Zuladung zwischen 130 und 190 Kilometern.

UAW Falls 87 Votes Short Of Major Victory In South

Just 87 votes at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee separated the United Auto Workers union from what would have been its first successful organization of workers at a foreign automaker in the South. Instead of celebrating a potential watershed moment for labor politics in the region, UAW supporters were left crestfallen by the 712-626 vote against union representation in the election that ended Friday night. The result stunned many labor experts who expected a UAW win because Volkswagen tacitly endorsed the union and even allowed organizers into the Chattanooga factory to make sales pitches. The loss is a major setback for the UAW's effort to make inroads in the growing South, where foreign automakers have 14 assembly plants, eight built in the past decade, said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank in Michigan. "If this was going to work anywhere, this is where it was going to work," she said of the Volkswagen vote. Organizing a Southern plant is so crucial to the union that UAW President Bob King told workers in a speech that the union has no long-term future without it. The loss means the union remains largely quarantined with the Detroit Three in the Midwest and Northeast. Many viewed VW as the union's best chance to gain a crucial foothold in the South because other automakers have not been as welcoming as Volkswagen. Labor interests make up half of the supervisory board at VW in Germany, and they questioned why the Chattanooga plant is the company's only major factory worldwide without formal worker representation. VW wanted a German-style "works council" in Chattanooga to give employees a say over working conditions. The company says U.S. law won't allow it without an independent union. In Chattanooga, the union faced stern opposition from Republican politicians who warned that a UAW victory would chase away other automakers who might come to the region. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee was the most vocal opponent, saying that he was told that VW would soon announce plans to build a new SUV in Chattanooga if workers rejected the union. That was later denied by a VW executive, who said the union vote had no bearing on expansion decisions. Other state politicians threatened to cut off state incentives for the plant to expand if the union was approved.