Safety and environment at the focus of VDA’s 11th Technical Congress
Frankfurt am Main, 11 March 2009. "In spite of the crisis the German automotive industry is stepping up its efforts to develop CO2-friendly vehicles and using the most modern driver assistance systems to make further improvements in road traffic safety," stressed Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). He was speaking in advance of the VDA's 11th Technical Congress, which the Association is holding in Wolfsburg on 25 and 26 March 2009. Over 300 international guests are expected to attend this event, which is Europe's most important technology congress.
"No other congress deals with the two core automotive topics of the environment and safety as extensively and competently as the VDA's Technical Congress. It examines the issues that will have a decisive strategic influence on this industry in the coming years," Wissmann underscored.
The VDA president presented the latest achievements in reducing CO2: whereas in January 2009 the average CO2 value of all newly registered passenger cars in Germany was 159.3 g/km (-4.6 per cent) - already below 160 g/km for the first time - in February it came down as far as 154.4 g/km (-6.9 per cent) owing to the strong sales figures for small cars bought by private users that was triggered by the scrapping bonus. This means that in the first two months of 2009 there was a fall of 6.0 per cent to 156.4 g/km.
February saw progress among gasoline-driven vehicles in particular, whose CO2 emissions were down by 8.4 per cent, to 151.7 g/km. The CO2 savings achieved by Ford and Porsche even made it into double-figure percentages - both in February and in the first two months taken together. Overall, CO2 emissions from newly registered diesel cars fell 3.5 per cent in February, a reduction of 160.3 g/km. The German brands now have a value of 159.6 g CO2/km (-3.5 per cent), which is lower than the average and below the value recorded by the importers (162.5 g CO2/km). Total CO2 emissions from German brands fell by 5.6 per cent in February to 158.2 g/km, which leaves them just 2.5 per cent above the average. The German brands were therefore making reductions at twice the speed of the French, who achieved a drop of only 3.1 per cent.
Wissmann emphasized: "It is remarkable that in the first two months of the current year the average CO2 values of newly registered diesel passenger cars of all the German brands have been reduced by 3.4 per cent to 160.7 g/km, while the French stagnated overall (-0.2 per cent) and Renault in fact recorded an increase of 3.8 per cent in its CO2 emissions." He added that the continual fall in the numbers of casualties in road accidents in recent years and decades showed that cars were becoming safer all the time.
The Technical Congress, which is held at a different venue each year, will take place this year at Volkswagen on the AutoUni MobileLifeCampus in Wolfsburg. VDA President Wissmann and Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen AG, will open the Congress. Federal Minister for Environment Sigmar Gabriel, Lower Saxony's Minister for Economics, Labor and Transport and Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Philipp Rösler, the Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Margo T. Oge, and Holger Krahmer, Member of the European Parliament and member of the Committee on the Environment, along with Dr. Werner Schnappauf, BDI Director General, will speak on national and global emissions. In the first plenary session Bernd Maierhofer, member of the Management Board at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, will give details of the "1-liter truck" and Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, will talk on the subject of "Innovations - A Key to Sustainable Mobility." In the plenary session on the second day of the Congress Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, member of the Board of Management at Volkswagen AG, will talk about electric mobility, and Peter Tyroller, member of the Board of Management at Bosch, will describe the "Challenges for a Global Automotive Supplier."
The path to powertrain electrification will be the topic of the first lecture in the specialist session entitled "Electric Mobility" within the thematic area "Environment and Energy." Dr. Steffen Berns, of Robert Bosch GmbH, will show that start-stop systems represent a first important step on the path toward CO2 reduction. Further steps will range from regenerative braking to the completely electric powertrain. The components for broad application of powertrain electrification are already available, so now the aim is to optimize the size and weight of the power electronics.
Jörg Prigl, from Daimler AG, will report on the smart fortwo ev. The development of lithium-ion battery technology is of key importance, which Daimler is tackling in a joint venture with Evonic. Dr. Thomas Johnen, from Adam Opel GmbH, will report on fuel cells and electric drives at GM/Opel. Dr. Klaus Schindler, from Volkswagen AG, will explain "Approaches to Minimizing NO2 Immissions." Georg Weiberg, of Daimler AG, will talk about the effects of the CO2 challenge on commercial vehicles, and Dr. Jens Hadler, of Volkswagen AG, will turn his attention to sustainable concepts for future powertrain technologies from Volkswagen.
The second major focus of the Technical Congress is "Vehicle Safety and Electronics." Dr. Torsten Strutz, from Volkswagen AG, and Dr. Ulrich Widmann, from Audi AG, will explain the "Effectiveness of Modern Safety Systems." Klaus Kompass and Dr. Werner Huber, both from BMW AG, will speak about "Integral Safety - Effective Added Value in Vehicle Safety." Prof. Rodolfo Schöneburg, of Daimler AG, will present the "New Passive Safety" with the new E-Class as an example. A comprehensive approach involving the pre-crash phase can make significant additional improvements to vehicle safety. With the Pre-Safe system and other data in the vehicle it becomes possible to include the braking system as a new aspect in the safety concept. This begins with a warning to the driver and goes as far as initiating emergency braking. The new system cannot prevent every accident from happening, but it can alleviate the consequences as far as possible.
Dr. Peter E. Rieth, from Continental AG, will turn his attention to the "Requirements of a Consistent Safety Concept" and Prof. Markus Maurer, from the Technical University of Brunswick, will explain how the cars of the future will be "autonomous, efficient and flexible." The new Euro NCAP rating will be discussed at the Technical Congress, as will the optimization of post-crash accident rescue and the new EU Regulation on Safety and Tyres.
Further information including the registration form and the program can be found on the Internet: www.vda.de/technischer-kongress. Journalists are exempt from the attendance fee for the Technical Congress, but we are unable to reimburse travel costs.
