• Emission bugs at the heart of VW’s Jetta TDI delay: The Sleuth reported to you some months ago that a turbo-diesel version of the 2009 Jetta was going to be delayed in getting to North America and now that has been confirmed by VW’s Stefan Jacoby. Look for it late next summer. The delay is due to — no surprise — problems with the emissions system, which is the whole reason why there has been no TDI here for a while now. “We have a solution and are working on it,” Jacoby said. Despite the delay, VW is already conducting dealer training for the new vehicle. “We need to launch with proper emissions and quality,” Jacoby said.
n Chinese cars en route . . . via Mexico?: We all knew it would eventually happen . . just not this way. The Sleuth hears that a Mexican business conglomerate plans to import cars from China next year and then send them to Central America and maybe North America by 2010. The long-term plan is to build cars in Mexico with a Chinese partner by 2010. Salinas Group, a Mexican financial services, communications and retailing giant, says it will begin producing Chinese-designed automobiles at an assembly plant to be built in western Mexico in collaboration with China’s First Automobile Works Group, or FAW. Salinas unit Grupo Elektra will own a majority stake in the plant, which is expected to cost about $150 million, take three years to build and have an initial production capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year, Salinas spokesman Daniel McCosh told industry publication Automotive News.
