


German auto maker Volkswagen hopes to turn out its first all-electric car in 2013, VW head Martin Winterkorn said Friday.
"We are going to use our New Small Family line to offer our first electric vehicle in 2013," he said in a speech, according to an advance text.
"And in 10 years at the latest we want to offer a large number of all-electric vehicles at affordable prices and with the autonomy that our clients expect."
Winterkorn added that VW was aiming for 1.0-1.5 percent of the global all-electric vehicle market by 2020.
Another German manufacturer, Daimler, in late June launched Germany's first hybrid vehicle almost 10 years after market leader Toyota.
German companies until now have mainly focused on diesel engines and, as a result, hybrids represented only 0.2 percent of the market last year, with the sale of 6,500 Toyota, Lexus or Honda models, according to national registration figures.
Volkswagen in late May signed a preliminary agreement with BYD of China to produce hybrid or electric cars, having reached a deal in February with Toshiba of Japan on the development of engines for such vehicles.
(c) 2009 AFPAlthough the Passat has been a relative success for Volkswagen in the U.S., the company is hard at work on a replacement midsize (or mid-market) sedan, with a not-so-clever codename: NMS. The final designs have been approved with prototypes being shown to dealers in Wolfsburg. This new U.S. targeted sedan will be larger than the Passat and priced to start around $20,000.
The car is designed with Americans specifically in mind. “It will be bigger and sleeker, and it has items necessary for Americans – space, seat comfort, cupholders, Bluetooth and other electronics. Very importantly, it remains a VW. It has been totally designed and engineered for the needs of American consumers,” said Stefan Jacoby, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America. It is expected to arrive in 2010.
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