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VOLKSWAGEN UNVEILS NEW CC
Volkswagen's stylish four-door coupe receives major updates for the 2013 Model Year, including freshened front and rear styling Full Story

VOLKSWAGEN STARTS PRODUCTION OF THE NEW BEETLE IN MEXICO
Wolfsburg / Puebla – 21/07/11

Volkswagen has officially started production of the new Beetle in Puebla, Mexico. On this occasion Dr. Guido Westerwelle, the Federal Foreign Minister, Felipe Calderón, the Mexican President, and Hubert Waltl, Board Member for Production and Logistics at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, visited the Volkswagen plant in Mexico.

"The Beetle is a strong symbol of our brand. It combines the emotional heritage of the original Beetle with the future of Volkswagen," Hubert Waltl said in Puebla. "At the same time, the new Beetle and the engine plant we are building in Silao represent the great confidence we place in Mexico as a manufacturing location. As one of the main manufacturers of compact class vehicles, Volkswagen de México is a key building block in our growth strategy for North America." Some 300 guests from politics and industry attended the ceremony in Puebla.

The Beetle wrote a success story in the USA in particular: That is where the mobility icon from Wolfsburg was sold almost five million times between 1949 and 1981. The New Beetle took up the thread of this Beetle Mania, with a total of 1.15 million units built in Puebla selling between 1997 and 2010. The latest Beetle celebrated its world premiere in April this year and will be in dealers' showrooms in Germany from this fall.

The Puebla plant is the largest automobile factory in Mexico and one of the Volkswagen Group's biggest vehicle manufacturing plants. It supplies North and South America as well as Europe with the new Jetta volume model. The Beetle and Golf Variant are built exclusively by Volkswagen de México for world markets. In 2010, the factory produced some 435,000 vehicles. Puebla also manufactures engines for the American continent and with its workforce of over 15,000 is one of Mexican industry's largest employers.

VOLKSWAGEN INAUGURATES NEW PLANT IN CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
Wolfsburg / Chattanooga, May 25, 2011:

• Foundations laid for profitable growth of Volkswagen Group in U.S.
• Model plant for sustainable resource-efficient automobile production

Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood have today inaugurated the new Volkswagen Group plant in the United States in the presence of prominent representatives from politics, business and the media. At Chattanooga, Tennessee, over 2,000 employees are to produce up to 150,000 vehicles per year. The plant sets new standards in terms of sustainable, resource-efficient production.

At the inauguration ceremony, which was also attended by Dr. Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States, Bill Haslam, Governor of the U.S. State of Tennessee, Jonathan Browning, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, as well as U.S. senators Robert Corker and Lamar Alexander, Prof. Winterkorn stated: "The Volkswagen Group has finally arrived as a local manufacturer in the United States. We are proud to be part of this great automobile nation as a producer, an employer and as a friend and good neighbour to people in the region."

Since construction started in 2009, an automobile plant including body shop, paint shop, assembly facility, technical testing centre, academy for the initial and advanced training of employees, and a supplier park with eight companies has been built on a 5.6 km² site in Chattanooga. The design production capacity of the plant is 150,000 vehicles per year. The manufacturing depth for the Passat produced here will be of the order of 85 per cent. 1,700 people are already employed directly by Volkswagen in Chattanooga. 10,000 additional jobs will be created in the U.S. component supply industry.

Volkswagen is investing about one billion US dollars in the development of the facility at Chattanooga, which will be among the world's most advanced and environmentally compatible automobile plants. The new plant is in line with the highest requirements of the U.S. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard, which lays down stringent provisions for the sustainable, environmentally compatible construction of buildings.

One of the key measures taken at the plant is the use of a painting process without any filler, which reduces CO2 emissions by about 20 per cent. Water efficiency at the plant also meets the most stringent requirements. Volkswagen has built the world's first automobile paint shop to use a waterless separation process for topcoat application. Thanks to the use of collected rainwater, water consumption at the Chattanooga plant is also considerably lower than at facilities of a comparable size. In addition, the U.S. plant is the first Volkswagen facility to rely entirely on energy-saving LED systems for outdoor lighting. The production buildings and offices are also equipped only with energy-saving lamps controlled by motion sensors. The entire lighting system of the plant uses some 20 per cent less energy than a comparable facility.

The United States is one of the world's largest and most important automobile markets. The new U.S. plant lays the foundations for Volkswagen to meet its target of boosting Group sales in the United States to more than a million vehicles per year by 2018 at the same time as winning a market share of about six per cent for the Volkswagen Group.

The U.S. Passat from Chattanooga, specially tailored to meet the needs of American customers, and the Jetta produced in Mexico are key elements in Volkswagen's offensive in North America. The next generation of the iconic Beetle will pick up the threads of the brand's legendary heritage in the United States

SAFETY IN NUMBERS: VOLKSWAGEN LEADS THE INDUSTRY WITH NINE 2011 "TOP SAFETY PICK" AWARDS FROM THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY

The Routan becomes the ninth VW to receive the IIHS's coveted TOP SAFETY PICK award.

Herndon, VA - The Routan is the latest Volkswagen to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) TOP SAFETY PICK rating for 2011, the highest possible from the non-profit safety research organization. This means that Volkswagen now has no fewer than nine TOP SAFETY PICKS, giving the brand leadership in the U.S. industry.

The annual rating recognizes those vehicles that perform best in protecting passengers in the Institute's front, side, and rear crash test evaluations, and the newly required roof-strength test evaluations. The Institute only awards TOP SAFETY PICK ratings to vehicles that are fitted with electronic stability control and head protection airbags.

The other 2011 Volkswagen models to receive the IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK rating are: CC 2.0L TSI®, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Passat, Tiguan, Touareg, and four-door Golf and GTI models.

"The Routan's performance demonstrates Volkswagen's ongoing commitment to safety," said Institute president Adrian Lund. "Vehicles earning TOP SAFETY PICK status afford the best overall protection in the most common kinds of crashes, and have electronic stability control for avoiding many crashes altogether."

"We're delighted that the Routan has been given this prestigious award—and even more delighted that Volkswagen now has industry leadership with nine IIHS TOP SAFETY PICKS," said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. "It's a great reward for the emphasis we place on safety in the development of our German-engineered vehicles."

Volkswagen Touareg TDI® Clean Diesel SUV Powers Rainer Zietlow and Team to New Record on World's Longest Highway
DEADHORSE, Alaska., July 20, 2011

• TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge Team Conquers 16,000 Miles in Record Time Demonstrating the Power and Durability of Clean Diesel Technology

On July 13, after 11 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes of non-stop driving, renowned adventurer and off-road driver Rainer Zietlow and his team set a new world record certified by Tuv Nord Mobility for driving the length of the Pan-American Highway as they crossed the road's end in Deadhorse, Alaska. The TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge team covered 14 countries and nearly 16,000 miles in a 2011 Volkswagen Touareg TDI® Clean Diesel SUV. Their journey to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Pan-American Highway's establishment breaks the previous record by more than three days.

"Our adrenaline is still pumping after setting the new world record on the Pan-American Highway," said Rainer Zietlow, manager of the German car event agency, Challenge4 GmbH, after finishing the Challenge. "We were able to overcome every weather challenge along the way, and our fueling and transportation stops ran like clockwork. Thanks to our sponsors, we were outfitted with a vehicle that could handle the demanding driving schedule and challenging conditions, and had amazing technical and driver support along the way."

Zietlow and his German teammates, Carlos Fernandez and Marius Biela, started their journey on July 2 at the southern-most tip of Argentina where the Pan-American Highway begins. They traveled through 14 countries – Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and Canada – and through challenging conditions ranging from a blinding sandstorm in Chile to muddy roads in northern Alaska. The team drove day and night, taking five-hour driving shifts throughout the trip. The TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge website, www.tdi-panamericana.com, shared the team's experiences through blog posts and videos and tracked their progress using a live map.

This world record journey was also one of goodwill. Zietlow will donate 10 Euro cents for each kilometer that was driven this trip to two villages in Latin America managed by Plan International, a charity organization that works in 48 developing countries to promote children's rights and lift millions of children out of poverty.

Zietlow chose the Touareg TDI® Clean Diesel for its durability, high-performance and long-range fuel efficiency. Its turbocharged 3.0L V6 TDI® engine delivers 225 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque and is designed to perform on rugged terrain and mixed road surfaces at varying altitudes. The clean diesel Touareg consumes 30 percent less fuel and produces up to 25 percent lower CO2 emissions than comparable gasoline vehicles.

"Volkswagen congratulates the Challenge4 Team on their success," said Rainer Michel, vice president of product marketing, Volkswagen of America. "We knew that the Volkswagen Touareg TDI® Clean Diesel SUV could be pushed to unimaginable limits. The completion of the TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge in record-setting time demonstrates the vehicle's durability, reliability, comfort and fuel-efficiency. This is a great vehicle for adventurers, driving enthusiasts and families alike."

From August 1 through August 30, Zietlow will drive the record-setting Touareg to Volkswagen dealerships across the nation where interested public can watch a movie about his journey and look inside the vehicle. To see the tour schedule, please visit www.tdi-panamericana.com.

In addition to Volkswagen, a number of other major sponsors supported the Challenge, including 3M, Allianz, Bosch, Castrol, Continental Tire, ESL, Exide Technologies, Federal Mogul, Getac, Inmarsat, Kruse, Kuehne + Nagel, PIAA,  Sonax, Tag Heuer and Volkswagen Credit.