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All VW articles
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FeatureVW sets up new components division to drive efficiency
Volkswagen has established a new division – Volkswagen Group Components – tasked with reducing costs by €2 billion ($2.27 billion) while improving efficiency and taking on board the increasing importance of electric vehicles. Thomas Schmall (right), chairman of VW’s new Group Components division, with Stefan Sommer, VW Group board member ...
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FeatureHanging in the balance
Lower production output, slower growth in export markets and several regulatory and operational issues are threatening to unbalance Poland’s finished vehicle market
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FeatureGerman automotive body warns on US trade tensions
German sector association the VDA has warned that ongoing trade tensions between the US and Europe and, separately, the US and China should not be allowed to derail the mutually beneficial relationship its OEMs currently have with the North American country. The warning coincides with news that VW and Ford ...
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FeatureAutoeuropa clears backlog after strike at Setúbal
Frenzied activity took place in the second half of December at the Autoeuropa Terminal at the port of Setúbal, Portugal, to free a backlog of vehicles trapped there by a stevedores strike that was finally brought to an end after more than a month.Additional vessels were brought in to shift ...
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FeatureUkraine sanctions risk Russian vehicle exports
The growth in Russian vehicle exports during 2018 could be in jeopardy if a new bill to ban Russian vehicle imports is passed by the government in Ukraine, one of the biggest sales markets for Russian-made cars.According to figures from the Russian Federal Customs Service, in the first nine months ...
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FeatureSovac starts assembling SKD kits for Audi in Algeria
Audi has begun assembling vehicles at the Relizane plant run by its long-time Algerian partner, Sovac, from semi-knockdown (SKD) kits prepared at the OEM’s Ingolstadt plant in Germany.“[All models] are built at the main plant in Ingolstadt and transported to Barcelona, where they are knocked down into individual assembly groups ...
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FeatureGerman OEMs meet Trump amid tariff confusion
Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW executives have this week outlined a series of planned investments in the US to administration officials, after meeting with President Donald Trump. Their meetings took place amid uncertainty over trade conditions, after the president’s tweet that China had agreed to end 40% duties on imports of ...
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FeatureVW Autoeuropa plant forced to ship via Leixões
Strikes at the Portuguese port of Setúbal that are expected to continue into January have forced Volkswagen to switch exports of its T-Roc SUV, made at the Autoeuropa plant in Palmela, to the northern port of Leixões.According to the ports administration of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo (APDL), the ...
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FeatureWLTP hits tier suppliers’ bottom lines
Two more tier suppliers have attributed declining financial performance to a drop-off in vehicle sales caused by the introduction of the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) for emissions standards in Europe.Michigan, US-based aluminium wheel manufacturer Superior Industries International has put a third-quarter loss down to the effects of ...
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FeatureRussian tax hike to fund higher outbound subsidies
Russia’s deputy prime minister, Dmitry Kozak, has announced plans to raise the utilisation fee on imported vehicles by 30%, to help fund an increase in the subsidies provided to export projects in the automotive sector.Both Russian assembly plants and importers have been subject to the utilisation fee since 2014. The ...
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FeatureWLTP hits sales and profits in Germany
Carmaker VW Group and parts supplier Schaeffler have both put weaker third-quarter financial performance down to the effects of the new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).As manufacturers have phased out older passenger car models in advance of the more stringent emissions testing procedure coming into effect on September ...
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FeatureVW starts making Seat Tarraco at Wolfsburg
Spanish carmaker Seat, part of the VW Group, has begun producing its Tarraco SUV on assembly lines at VW’s Wolfsburg factory – the first time in 20 years a non-VW vehicle has been built at the plant in northern Germany.Designed and developed in Barcelona, the Tarraco is built on the ...
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FeatureTesting times
The start of September this year marked the point at which all new car registrations in the EU had to comply with the new CO2 emissions test – the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). This laboratory test is designed to introduce more realistic and stricter criteria when assessing ...
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FeatureCar prices jump in Russia as fiscal pressure mounts
The cost of most new cars in Russia rose sharply in September in response to a mix of factors including the recent devaluation of the Russian rouble, the introduction of higher duties on imported components and an upcoming increase in taxation.Research conducted by the Russian Gazette, the official publication of ...
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FeatureShowing robots the ropes
Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in the eastern German city of Dresden is arguably one of the more unusual automotive manufacturing sites in the world. Named due to its highly glazed exterior, it is not only the production location for the company’s e-Golf but also home to a number of other related ...
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FeatureVW Group highlights gains from making Audi A1 in Spain
Volkswagen Group has said it expects substantial logistics benefits to follow, now that it is producing the new-look Audi A1 in Seat’s Martorell factory in Spain.“[It] joins Seat vehicles in most distribution transport flows, which enables us to achieve cost and lead time synergies, both for Seat and Audi,” Seat ...
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FeatureFinally, a done deal?
The sigh of relief from the automotive sector at the announcement of a breakthrough in negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Mexico in August was almost palpable. The news at the end of September that a similar, last-minute deal had also been struck with Canada must ...
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FeatureUnipart signs aftersales deal with VW
Unipart Logistics has won a new five-year contract with Volkswagen Group to run its UK aftermarket supply chain.More than 450 workers at Volkswagen's Tamworth logistics hub were transferred to Unipart Logistics after it signed a deal with the carmaker.The operation will service more than 900 retailers and trade partners across ...
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FeatureMexico hopes for a smoother road ahead
After much uncertainty around trade talks between Mexico and the US and the former’s presidential election, Mexico’s economic and political conditions now seem clearer, leaving OEMs and LSPs in the country more optimistic about the future.Mexico, which is the world’s fourth biggest vehicle exporter, has enjoyed strong levels of exports ...
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FeatureVictor Arabe leaves VW for Nationwide
Victor Arabe (pictured), previously port manager for Volkswagen's business at the port of San Diego, in the US, has moved to Nationwide Auto Services (NAS) as director of business development. NAS provides paint and hail damage repair services but is widening the scope of its operations by working directly with ...