Thursday, August 9, 2007

Automotive News : VW Embraces TDI, Bails Out of Bluetec Diesel Alliance

Automotive News : VW Embraces TDI, Bails Out of Bluetec Diesel Alliance car wallpaper pictures

Automotive News

Volkswagen has decided to return to its own TDI branding for diesel vehicles, rather than bringing out its own Bluetec-equipped cars here in 2008. The German magazine Wirtschaftswoche said VW is abandoning the diesel alliance because the Bluetec brand is too closely linked with rival Mercedes-Benz.

TDI has been used on diesel-engined VWs for many years. "We already have 800,000 diesel vehicles running in the U.S.; for that reason we want to go ahead with our TDI brand," VW spokesman Hans-Gerd Bode told Thompson Financial.

Last fall, BMW AG decided not to join the alliance, preferring to launch its own clean-diesel vehicles in the U.S. next year. It is expected that Chrysler vehicles with diesel engines co-developed with DaimlerChrysler will still use Bluetec badging in the near future.

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