Volker Müller-Tönnissen (52) and his co-driver Jörn-Luca Müller-Tönnissen (16) a father and son team from Dusseldorf, Germany produced the most efficient performance driving the new Golf TDI BlueMotion and achieved an average fuel consumption of a mere 3.48 liters per 100 kilometers on the 592 kilometer route from Berlin via Wolfsburg and Weimar to Frankfurt am Main. All the cars competed with three occupants plus balance weight, so that each vehicle had an impressive load of 294.4 kilos.
Volker Müller-Tönnissen works in the environment department of the ministry for climate protection, environment, agriculture, nature and consumer protection of North Rhine-Westphalia. Last year’s competition was won by Frank Zauft from Wermelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia in a Jetta Hybrid on a route from San Francisco to Santa Monica. This year’s winners of the German preliminary contest clinched the title in competition with 16 other national winners. Second and third place went to the teams from the Canary Islands (3.36 liters) and Russia (3.67 liters). Following the event, all participants took the opportunity to visit the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main and were particularly interested in the Volkswagen stand which is showcasing several efficiency models.
The “Think Blue. World Championship.” is a unique rally where contestants must not only demonstrate their fuel-saving driving skills. They also have to prove their knowledge of “Think Blue.”, Volkswagen’s ecological sustainability initiative. The participants had to master various challenges on fuel-efficient driving and alternative drive technologies – for example answering quiz questions, cooking regional dishes with locally-sourced ingredients or building miniature energy plants for renewable energies.
At the Volkswagen test center in Ehra-Lessien they discovered the differences between the diesel-powered Golf TDI BlueMotion, the natural gas-powered eco-up! and full hybrids such as the Touareg Hybrid. One highlight of the competition for them was the opportunity to be among the very first drivers ever to test drive the Volkswagen XL1, the most efficient series vehicle worldwide, as well as the first purely electric high-volume production Volkswagen, the new e-up!
Simon Thomas, Head of Marketing at the Volkswagen brand and the Volkswagen Group, commented: “In this, the third year of the international final in fuel-efficient driving, we almost doubled the number of participating countries and motivated several thousand people from all over the world to find out about driving efficiently. The event perfectly embodies the idea of ‘Think Blue.’, which is to inspire people and contribute to significantly reducing fuel consumption, and thus emissions, by adopting a more intelligent driving style.”
One of the 16 countries to participate in this competition was Malaysia. The Malaysian entry was driven by Mr Ong Lin Kern who together with his father managed 13th place overall. Having a disadvantage of driving a left hand drive car for the first time with a diesel engine, Ong had to learn the gear ratios of the Golf TDI diesel engine and keep on the right side of the road. Better luck next time. For more information, please go to www.thinkblue.volkswagen.com
