Dr. Ferdinand Piëch with the Bentley Hunaudieres.

"We have to adapt to each market; to the wishes of our customers, but that is not such a problem. For example, with regard to crash safety, we pick the most demanding standards — like the 50% offset test in Europe — and if a car conforms to that it is not too difficult to fulfill the needs of all markets."

This can make meeting global safety standards less expensive. "With regard to airbags, American law demands that even if no seat belt is worn, injury must still be minimal in certain crash conditions," he said. "In Europe, where seat belt wearing is mandatory, a smaller airbag may be used. However, we use knowledge gained in the U.S., transferring it to cars built for Europe in which a full-size airbag is fitted. Because if a driver or passenger forgets to put on the seat belt, protection is better with the full-size U.S. system. It is an example of learning from different criteria."

VW has a similar "learning philosophy" with regard to emissions, a technology that Piëch regards as getting ever more complex. But again, it is a case of always achieving the highest demands: "For example, we already have to fulfill Euro 4 in California; how can we tell people in Europe that they cannot have this standard as well? It is a case of going around the world and learning. It allows us to meet local laws and fulfill the demands of certain countries more quickly." But he makes clear that the automotive industry needs to "go against (emissions) laws that help no one." He is concerned that so much emphasis is put on vehicle emissions, which are a relatively small part of emissions from all sources, particularly in developing countries. China, where VW sold 304,000 cars last year, now has legislation which demands use of catalytic converters on cars: "That figure represents over 50% of the car market in China; it does not add very much to a cleaner environment, but it does help."

Piëch believes that a vital contribution to energy saving and emissions reduction can be made via information systems. "No one enters a traffic jam because they like to sit in a stationary line, he said. It is so much better to get information about a situation and stay away from it."

With traffic jams now endemic in all the world's major cities and their environs, information systems are a global need. That is an example of an automotive system that can be applied across the world to help alleviate a common problem. But the possibility of creating truly global cars Dr. Piëch regards as unrealistic, despite the fact that models such as the Golf are marketed in about 100 countries. "For example, in Brazil we need a car for the Brazilians. It is a car in between an American and a European design in terms of features, tolerances, ride, and how precisely it is built. However, I think this market is moving more toward the European and Japanese way of car production in terms of such things as panel fit and closures. But the people are not yet as sensitive to these issues as they are in Europe and Japan," he said.

In the U.S., car buyers are moving toward a higher build and overall quality expectancy, but they are doing so slowly. "Reliability is fine with American cars. They are functional but they are not the sort of cars on which you want to put your hands to feel them, to feel the quality. This is another mentality. To me, American cars are a more basic form of transportation with a lot of short time 'show business!' They produce a new car and it may be very nice but after two or three years it has gone. In Japan or Europe a car is made for a longer period of production. Maybe the idea — the design — is not as dramatic, but in detail it is better made. You can still successfully sell European and Japanese cars in America but not the other way around. Not all Europeans like American cars; Japanese like them even less. But America is moving toward the European and Japanese way. What they will not accept is the higher price that comes with that higher quality," he explained.

Dr. Piëch says no variation in manufacturing quality standards is permitted between any of VW's plants across the world: "We work very hard to ensure that German quality comes through each product in each of our plants. No differentiation is allowed."

Global vehicle development for the VW Group has a special meaning that few other companies will experience. Platform rationalization is central to its national and international design and engineering philosophy. The current Golf platform has led to vehicles as varied as the Audi TT, VW Beetle, and Skoda Octavia: "You don't see them but they have many identical parts. Yet those cars are as much differentiated as models from competitors in the same class. We can go on doing that with the Golf platform. We have reached about 60% of the models that will use that platform. The next cars using it will be mainly niche models and we simply could not afford a different platform for each as we might have done in the past."

Of course, some VW Group products do not fit that concept. Bentley is one. But even so, the shrewd Dr. Piëch can see ways of linking products across international engineering and geographical borders: "Nuts and screws for a Bentley cost 11 times as much as for an Audi V8, but they have similar dimensions. So we can bring to it Audi costs.... "He smiles slightly at the intimation. Dr. Piëch is a global thinker.