Geneva '08 Preview: Volkswagen to show diesel-hybrid Golf possibly coming to US

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Channel 4 in Britain is reporting that one of the vehicles that Volkswagen will be showing in Geneva in a couple of weeks is a diesel hybrid version of the Golf. Although VW has been experimenting with various hybrid powertrains since at least the early '90s, they have yet to offer one in production. Apparently Volkswagen has developed this system primarily for the U.S. market and it will be Tier 2 Bin 5 compliant. The system will likely be offered on the Golf (branded as a Rabbit in the U.S.) and at least two of its platformmates, the Jetta sedan and the Audi A3. The Golf is expected to get 69.2 mpg (U.S.) and emit carbon dioxide at the rate of 89g/km. Most likely, this will be some sort of mild hybrid setup in order to make it cost-effective in the U.S. market. Volkswagen is also developing a strong hybrid system that will be installed on the Touareg and Q7 next year.

[Source: Channel 4]

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