1982 Vw Rabbit Diesel Manual on 2040-cars

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VW's Skoda says Ukraine partner making wire harnesses again

PRAGUE — Skoda Auto, part of the Volkswagen Group, said on Tuesday its supply partner in Ukraine had decided to restart production of wire harnesses which should allow the Czech carmaker to resume production of its electric ENYAQ iV model. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added to supply chain problems for global automakers — which were already struggling with semiconductor shortages that have cut production — with a break in deliveries of wire harnesses from the war-torn country. While Skoda, the Czech Republic's biggest exporter, said it expects the supply of semiconductors to improve in the second half of 2022, it said the war in Ukraine and supply bottlenecks will put a significant burden on its operating business. Skoda's 2021 deliveries fell 12.6% year-on-year and earlier this month it stopped production of the ENYAQ because of harness shortages, saying that two other models were at risk because of the lack of availability of the component. "Our partner ... in Ukraine decided to restart production of wire harnesses this week, with full service and full security for workers there," Karsten Schnake, Skoda's board member for purchasing, said during its online 2021 earnings presentation. Wire harnesses form a key part of a car's electrical system, which group and guide cables inside the vehicle. "We decided to double the production in case something is going wrong, and this production will be ramped up in an alternative factory," Schnake said, adding that work there would start in three or four weeks. "Hopefully we can restart production of ENYAQ one or two weeks later when we have wire harnesses," Schnake said. Skoda delivered 878,200 cars worldwide in 2021, the first time that this had fallen below the 1 million mark since 2013. Nevertheless, the VW group brand's sales revenue rose 3.9% to 17.7 billion euros ($19.5 billion) in 2021 and operating profit rose 43.2% to 1.1 billion euros ($1 billion) as it took cost measures. Skoda did not give a financial or production outlook, saying there were still considerable uncertainties as a result of the conflict in Ukraine and the impact on its Russian operations. Skoda, like VW, has suspended production and other business activities in Russia, which was its second-largest market last year, with 90,400 vehicles delivered. ($1 = 0.9089 euros) (Reporting by Jason Hovet, Editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith) Related video: Green Plants/Manufacturing Volkswagen Skoda Electric ukraine war

More German automakers may be afoul of US emission standards

Volkswagen has plenty of smoke to share, and that may mean fire for other German automakers that make diesel vehicles, says Automotive News. Earlier this month, European Federation for Transport and Environment said that BMW, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and General Motor's Opel division are among other automakers that may have equipped their vehicles' diesel engines with similar software as VW's. That software was found to reduce emissions while a car is being tested for emissions and shuts down emissions-control systems during normal use. The European environmental group used data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. Automotive News notes that the European environmental group put out its own report earlier this month, before the VW scandal broke loose, but the report was pretty much overlooked. Now, VW is under fire after it was discovered that 2.0-liter diesel engines in the VW Jetta and Golf, and Audi A3, may be programmed to game the emissions system. VW sold almost a half-million diesel vehicles in the US during the past six years. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz told Automotive News that the issue that befell VW doesn't apply to their diesel vehicles. Earlier this week, Volkswagen admitted its car ran the sneaky software, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started a probe on the company. VW is setting aside more than $7 billion to pay for the alleged violations. Meanwhile, US taxpayers may have spent as much as $51 million a year to pay for subsidies related to VW's diesel vehicle sales in 2009 alone, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Volkswagen Motorsport cranks out Golf touring car

Just when you thought Volkswagen had done all the hot Golfs we could handle, its motorsports division has come out with an even hotter one. This racing version is built to compete in the Touringcar Racer International Series (TCR) across Europe and Asia, and certainly looks the part. Based on the production Golf hatchback we all know, the TCR competition version promises to be to circuit-based touring car racing what the Polo R WRC is to the rally stage. And that little pocket rocket has been positively dominating the World Rally Championship. Developed in conjunction with Seat's racing department and Liqui Moly Team Engstler, the Golf touring car packs the 2.0-liter turbo four from the Golf R. Only instead of 292 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque in the production version, it's been tuned to channel 330 hp and 302 lb-ft to the front wheels (instead of all four) through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. It rides on 18-inch alloys fitted to a track widened by nearly a foot and a half, along with a competition-spec aero kit to keep it glued to the tarmac and a stripped-out cockpit. Though the 2015 TCR series is already under way, a pair of these racing Golfs will be entered in the upcoming round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, before the series heads off to Singapore (in support of the F1 grand prix there) and Thailand ahead of the final round in Macau. If everything goes well, customer teams will be able to pick these up and enter them in next year's championship. Volkswagen develops new Golf for the racetrack - Concept car for customer racing, in line with new TCR regulations - Production-based touring car with 330 hp, front-wheel drive and six-speed DSG gearbox - First competitive test this weekend in Spielberg (A) Wolfsburg (09 July 2015). A new Golf for the racetrack: Volkswagen Motorsport is developing its first racing car based on the seventh generation Golf. The production-based, 330-hp concept car is assembled in accordance with TCR regulations and is intended to help Volkswagen evaluate a potential customer racing programme from the 2016 season onwards. In order to accelerate the development of the car, the new Golf will be tested under competitive conditions between now and the end of the season: as cooperation partner, the Liqui Moly Team Engstler will run two cars at the eighth round of the Touringcar Racer International Series (TCR) at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (A).