Mobility and Sustainability.

Durable products

By developing and producing high-quality vehicles we can meet two key requirements: the customer's demand for durable products that hold their value well, and a long usage cycle for the product, postponing the recycling date. For that reason too, Volkswagen sets high standards for the quality and hence also the service life of its products. These standards can only be achieved by employing innovative materials, the latest bonding techniques and optimised corrosion protection techniques.

The most successful Volkswagen, the Golf, is now in production in its sixth generation. All these generations are still in use on Germany's roads, and at around 4 million vehicles they represent almost 10 percent of the entire stock of cars in Germany. The Golf IV, of which there are over a million and which was produced until 2003, is the model you are most likely to meet on German roads. There are also still more than 500,000 examples of the considerably older Golf II on the road. And there are even a few thousand Golf I models, built between 1974 and 1982, registered as "historic vehicles" (as at 31.12.2008, see Fig. 10).

These figures are an impressive demonstration of the durability of Volkswagen cars.

Fig. 10: Numbers of existing vehicles, VW Golf I to Golf VI on 31.12.2008 (Source: Federal Motor Transport Authority)

Extended Service Intervals (ESI)

With the introduction of Extended Service Intervals (ESI) for Volkswagen vehicles, the number of service visits to workshop has been significantly reduced. Service intervals and hence oil change intervals of up to 2 years, or a maximum of 50,000 km in the case of certain diesels or 30,000 km in the case of petrol engines, are possible, as fully synthetic engine oils are used. This measure also leads to growing customer satisfaction and to the preservation of important resources. Furthermore, the use of components with a long service life (maintenance-free particulate filters and catalytic converters) and lifetime oil for gearboxes and electrohydraulic power steering also contributes to the protection of the environment, as a large proportion of used oil and workshop waste is avoided.

Recycling of catalytic converters

Volkswagen operates its own recycling centre for catalytic converters at its Kassel plant. At this plant scrap components from the production of catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters which do not meet the high quality standards, as well as faulty and used catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters, are subjected to a sophisticated recycling process. In this process, in addition to the ferrous metals, the rare and hence valuable precious metals platinum, palladium and rhodium in particular are recovered and used for the manufacture of new catalytic converters. This process is not just a gain for the environment but also secures the supply of raw materials for the benefit of Volkswagen and its customers.

Fig. 11: Typical catalytic converter scrap

Manufacture of exchange parts

Many components in a vehicle are subject to natural wear and tear – though they do not become worthless as a result. For example, engines, gearboxes, starter motors and many other components can be reconditioned to a high standard and subsequently used again just like new parts. The reconditioning of parts is both of commercial interest and also an effective way of protecting the environment and preserving resources, as less energy and fewer raw materials are needed than for an entirely new product. For that reason used parts are remanufactured at Volkswagen to create reconditioned Genuine Exchange Parts – and of course with the same quality and warranty as for new parts.

The effects achieved with this reconditioning process are quite considerable. For example, around 7.7 million engines and over 2.2 million gearboxes have been manufactured from used units. The reconditioning of 70 million components has resulted in the avoidance of 585,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is the same amount as that produced by a Golf BlueMotion driving five billion kilometres, or 125,000 times around the world. In addition to which 350,000 tonnes of steel have been saved at Volkswagen, which is the amount needed for 35 Eiffel Towers.
The complete range of exchange parts currently includes more than 10,300 items from 66 product groups. Every exchange part is continuously optimised to ensure that it is state-of-the-art. All the parts that cannot be immediately reconditioned are passed on as appropriate in the workshop to a further recovery process.

More detailed information can be found at
Original Austausch Teile Sortiment > Volkswagen Original Teile® > Kunden & Service > Volkswagen Deutschland

Take-back of end-of-life parts from workshops

Even in regular workshop servicing and vehicle repairs there are old parts that cannot be reconditioned. Their recycling is guaranteed by a nationwide workshop disposal system, organised by Volkswagen and offered to its service partners, which covers the majority of the disposal costs. In this way more than 42,000 tonnes of components and materials were sorted and collected in 2008 alone, and fed into sophisticated recycling processes. This corresponds to the amount of household waste collected in a German town with 230,000 inhabitants.
For many of these end-of-life parts Volkswagen has managed to complete material cycles, thus acquiring recycled materials as raw materials. This protects resources and thus makes an important contribution to the protection of the environment.

Fig. 12: The end-of-life parts take-back system of Volkswagen AG.

More detailed information can be found at

http://www.volkswagen-original-teile.de/umwelt/master2.html