2020 Volkswagen Jetta R-line W/roof on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: VW consumption down 24%, BAIC opens EV R&D in CA

The Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership will provide grant funding to 21 states to help improve consumers' access to renewable fuels. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture announced the funding, which will help retailers purchase and install the equipment necessary to dispense fuels like E85 and other higher ethanol blends. Groups such as the American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, Prime the Pump, and the Renewable Fuels Association came forward to applaud the announcement. "This assistance in building out retail infrastructure is not only good for the American farmer but it is also great for the American motorist who will now have more opportunities to buy higher octane fuel at a lower cost," says Prime the Pump Chairman Ray Defenbaugh. Read more from Domestic Fuel. Volkswagen has reduced resource consumption of its vehicle production by 24.3 percent since 2011. As part of its "Think Blue. Factory." program, the automaker has implemented a series of environmental efforts (a number VW puts at 3,400 measures) at its factories worldwide. Examples include optimizing shut-down schedules, reducing solvent emissions, energy recovery programs, and recycling paper, plastic, and water. Read more at Green Car Congress. BAIC has opened an electric vehicle research and development center in California's Silicon Valley. The Chinese automaker's first overseas R&D facility, it opened under BAIC's subsidiary, Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. (BJEV), and is affiliated with the Beijing New Engineering Research Institute. The center will be responsible for the research and development of three to four new models per year, as BJEV intends to bring a complete lineup of EVs to market. BJEV also plans to open an R&D center in Europe. Read more at Green Car Congress or from BAIC. Co-CEO of Zap and CEO of Jonway Autos, Wang "Alex" Gang is providing $10 million in funding to the two companies in order to meet electric minivan orders. Zap/Jonway have taken down payments from Dongfeng to supply 11,000 of the EVs by the Chinese New Year (February 8) of 2016. The equity investment from Wang allows Zap/Jonway to ramp up production to meet this deadline, with a target of 1,000 EVs per month by year's end. Read more in the press release below. CEO Funds $10 million To Support ZAP and Jonway Auto in Delivering 11,000 EV minivan Orders SANTA ROSA, Calif., Sept.

VW planning 20 new plug-in models for China

With just about everything getting super-sized for China, Volkswagen is following suit with its plug-in vehicle plans for the world's most populous country. VW, Europe's largest carmaker, is looking to sell more than 20 different plug-in models in China within the next four years, Reuters says, citing comments Volkswagen Group China head Jochem Heizmann made in Shanghai. The company is hoping that translates to sales of more than 100,000 plug-ins in China by the end of the decade. Go big or go home, right? There's a huge plug-in vehicle opportunity in China, especially given the bad pollution situation in cities like Beijing and Shanghai and the Chinese government's incentives for plug-in vehicle buyers. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said at the Beijing Motor Show this spring that the company would spend $25 billion on at least a half-dozen plug-in models for China by 2018. VW will start selling the e-Golf in China this year and the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid in 2015. VW said in August that it would start selling the e-Golf in the US for about $35,500 in November. That's a $6,500 price hike from the base Nissan Leaf.

Autoblog Podcast #406

Episode #406 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, and Chris Bruce talk about the Mustang Shelby GT 350, the Los Angeles Auto Show, and the Volkswagen Golf winning Motor Trend Car of the Year honors. We start with what's in the Autoblog Garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #406: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: Ford Shelby GT350 LA Auto Show Volkswagen Golf wins Motor Trend COTY In The Autoblog Garage: 2015 Ford Fiesta SFE 2015 Honda CR-V 2015 Audi Q3 Hosts: Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, Chris Bruce Runtime: 01:26:07 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 - 29:21 LA Auto Show - 40:36 Golf is Motor Trend COTY - 53:50 Q&A - 01:00:42 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes