VW Shows Off at Expo 2010

Not so keen in advertising its presence at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, German carmaker Volkswagen was unable to resist the temptation of preparing the visit of David McAllister, the new prime minister of Lower Saxony, to its booth at the event. As you already know, Lower Saxony is the second largest shareholder in the Volkswagen group, after the owning families.

VW decided to show off its best products to the new prime minister, and by best we mean those technologies which are being developed in line with the now global trend: electrification. At the center of VW's Chinese electrification program is, of course, the E-Lavida concept, the electric version of the Lavida model which was presented this April in Beijing.

“The Lavida blue-e-motion not only stands for an innovative electric drive technology but for an intensive exchange in vehicle development between the engineers here in China and in Germany as well,” Jorn Hasenfuss, Shanghai Volkswagen managing director said at the event.

The Lavida, set to be the basis of electric models to be released in China, as well as in Europe, in 2013, was developed by the German carmaker’s joint venture with the Chinese Shanghai Automotive company. It is, at the same time, only a part of the worldwide effort to reduce harmful gases emissions.

“We fulfilled our target this year of reducing energy consumption of our vehicles sold in China by 20 percent, compared to 2005. Long-term growth can be feasible only with a concurrent preservation of resources,” added Winfried Vahland, VW Group China CEO.