The following was in Automotive News Europe - an industry pubilication
whose siter publications are Automotive News  (US news) and Autoweek.

Will they build it? - Flip a coin?

John Reynolds
81 Westy

http://www.autonewseurope.com/stories114/microbus114.htm
Microbus production decision due

                    Ralph Kisiel
                    Automotive News Europe

There's a 50-50 chance that Volkswagen will build a Microbus.

That prediction came from Bernd Pischetsrieder, who will formally succeed
Ferdinand Pi�ch as               VW management boad chairman in April.

The decision may rest on the outcome of product meetings being held in
Detroit between   executives of Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen of America
Inc. They are reviewing the results of focus groups and are evaluating
various Microbus configurations.

A decision will be made during the first half of this year,
Pischetsrieder said. "We're all excited about it, but we've got to make
money on it."

Volkswagen unveiled its Microbus concept at the Detroit show last year.
VW would hope to                    capitalize on the same nostalgia that
made the New Beetle so popular in the USA.

The focus groups made a few things clear to VW, said Charlie Waterhouse,
director of market                     and product strategy at Volkswagen
of America. He said the Microbus must be less than
$30,000 (E33,660) and must offer more flexible seating than was shown in
the concept.
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