VW engineers reading ecomodder.com forums?
 

I think someone at VW has been reading the ecomodder forums. There is aparaently a new gasoline powered Bluemotion Passat which gets 40mpg. Which is a lot for a gas engine in a car that big. Quoted from treehugger.com

"VW BlueMotion Passat Technical Specifications
The 1.4 liter TSI engine features both a turbo and direct injection, and is rated at 122-horsepower. CO2 emissions are 136-138 g/km, and the car can be had with a 7-speed direct-shift gearbox (DSG) transmission. It also has low-rolling resistance tires, longer gear ratio than the non-BlueMotion model, "a chassis thats been dropped 15 mm, a fully enclosed underbody, a closed grille and a weight reduction of 30 kg"."

Article here

Haha, I wouldn't doubt it. Nice find.

If they were reading this forum then they would release that car in the US, but my bet is that the only way any of us will ever see it in person is if we fly to another country...

Cool car, but we want to many ponies and we're too cheap to get such a car this side of the pond.

An other example is nobody will pay 50k for a 2 liters diesel minivan, when you can get a better equipped 4 liters minivan for close to half that price. That's why VW rebadged a Chrysler T&C as a Routan instead of bringing the Sharan over from Europe.

If VW read this forum, the first thing they would add are moon discs and wheel skirts.

Piwoslaw -

Yeah, but there's gotta be a market for the "aero-eco-kit". Racers with Passats would also buy it (I hope).

CarloSW2

Probably not... Or maybe they do... Everything described isn't exactly new tech (no offense meant).

if they read this forum those mods would be in a rabbit and available here

I sold a do up Vespa shell to the NZ Minister of Transport (government big guy).

He dropped round my house to pick it up!! and was driving a 5cylinder Passat and spoke very highly off it. Asked about the FE he was beaming.

Skoda Octavia comes from the same factory with different badges, and has got a big following here too.

Nearly all my surf buddies have Octavia and Passat wagons...

I agree that it should be on a smaller car and available here (polo anyone). But the fact remains, VW are actually doing ecomods to their production vehicles. So there is hope for the car manufacturers yet. That was my whole point to posting this article.

<absurd_conspiracy>Besides Big Oil would kill them in their sleep then destroy any evidence that it actually existed if they brought a fuel efficient car to the US.</absurd_conspiracy> :D