Record breaker Rainer Zietlow has set out on another great journey. With his “EcoFuel Transamerica Tour” through South and North America, he is continuing his circumnavigation of the globe in a natural-gas-powered Volkswagen Caddy. This stage is a very special pan-American trip. He will not only cross the American continent in record time via the shortest route from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but also visit a large number of automotive locations on the way to demonstrate the range, infrastructure and quality of natural-gas-powered mobility. The total distance of 50,000 kilometers also includes various locations of the Schaeffler Group.

The Schaeffler Group’s worldwide network of companies comprises 66,000 employees at 180 locations in more than 50 countries. Rainer Zietlow has therefore planned visits to different Schaeffler locations in nearly every country of the American marathon tour.

He will start his tour immediately after Christmas on December 28, with a visit to the head office of Schaeffler Chile in Santiago de Chile. The following week, after driving through Tierra del Fuego, the natural-gas-powered Caddy is expected to arrive at the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires. Two stopovers in Brazil are on the agenda for mid January. Rainer Zietlow plans to visit the head office of Schaeffler Brazil in Sao Paulo and the plant in Sorocaba one day later. After stopovers in Mexico City and Puebla, the natural-gas-powered Caddy is scheduled to arrive in Fort Mill, South Carolina, at the beginning of March. Fort Mill is located in the south of Charlotte, the commercial center of Southeastern USA that has been popular with car enthusiasts for the NASCAR racing series. This is where the Schaeffler Group operates a development center that predominantly works for plants of European automotive manufacturers in the vicinity. As in Spartanburg, the location also comprises manufacturing facilities for bearings and bearing components. Fort Mill is within short distance of Tuscaloosa and Spartanburg (South Carolina) or Chattanooga (Tennessee).

Cheraw (South Carolina) is another manufacturing location in the area. Here, Schaeffler Group employees manufacture automotive components for customers who are based in the US. Schaeffler Group Automotive will set up the production and assembly of UniAir systems in South Carolina shortly.

Rainer Zietlow will then be bound for Danbury (Connecticut). This location has become renowned for high-precision bearings of the Barden brand that are primarily used in aerospace applications.

Four days later, the silver-gray Caddy will be welcomed in Troy. Troy is located in Michigan and belongs to the conurbation of Detroit, center of the US automotive industry. Here, Schaeffler Group Automotive also operates a development center that provides support to the “Big Three” located in the area. Although the Schaeffler Group has a total of 20 locations in Mexico, USA and Canada, Rainer Zietlow’s tour will be over with a visit to the Schaeffler Automotive Aftermarket location in Valley City one day later.

“I will complete my series of visits to INA, LuK and FAG locations with this tour through large parts of South and North America”, says Rainer Zietlow. He will frequently upload photos, diary entries and videos to the Internet during his journey. Detailed information about the marathon tour through South and North America from end of December 2009 to April 2010 can be found at´www.ecofuel-transamerica.com.

His car, a volume-produced Volkswagen Caddy EcoFuel, is also described in more detail on the website. In addition to the standard equipment, the car is fitted with a lightweight front bullbar and supplementary gas tanks for the far reaches of Central America. The standard Volkswagen Caddy also contains a large number of parts produced by the Schaeffler Group. For example, the Schaeffler Group supplies LuK clutches and dual mass flywheels, FAG wheel bearings, and a wide range of INA engine components for these models to Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

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