vw north america c.e.o. jonathan browning says gas prices are at the top of mind with buyers. >> what we tend to see is people shifting their focus into passenger cars and into smaller passenger cars. passat is perfectly positioned for that, and the clean diesel passat. which is built here in chattanooga. >> reporter: adding to capacity at its southern tennessee plant means vw will have more cars to sell in north america, but it's also a boom to the southern tennessee economy. >> we've seen from prior experience that every job vw adds here is worth another four or five in terms of suppliers, so that's obviously a huge multiplier. >> reporter: tennessee's unemployment rate is sitting at about 8.2%, just a little below the national average. governor bill haslam says the state has done everything from working with community colleges to find qualified workers to providing infrastructure assistance. >> the truth is, every governor is out trying to make their state the jobs state. we're selling the things that are

. >> steffen, vw shares down over 2%. what is going on there? >> that is because of its subsidiary, porsche. there are employees and managers charged with fraud. it's all about a refinancing program of 10 billion euro loan in 2009. these managers are accused that they downplayed porsche's risks and now charges are ongoing. investors fear that this will cost some money. the market, in general, is it soured maybinly by the bundesbank news. the euro-dollar under $1.31 again. >> in just a moment, the latest from the cebit computer fair. >> here's a roundup of the other stories making news. >> thousands have fled homes in southeast australia as the worst floods in decades have hit the region. summit thousand were ordered to evacuate. authorities fear of waters from swollen rivers could overwhelm protective dikes and completely submerge the town. >> mexican police have uncovered a large weapons deposited near the border to the united states. they say the arms dump included hand grenades, machine guns, and ammunition. it was discovered when prisoners w

gm outsold vw last year, but why was vw far more profitable?here they were selling and what they were selling mandy. if you look at the gm profit pablt versus volkswagen, volkswagen ended up net profit-wise being three times more profitable than general motors. people say they're both strong in china. where is the difference? if you look at europe, particularly germany, they're stronger there and in south america. you take some of the outliers around the world as well and put that together with the audi brand, which is incredibly powerful last year, that's where you see the strength for volkswag volkswagen. >> is audi the secret to their success? zoo >> it's the most powerful brand. it's the 16th best seller brand in the world in 2011. brought in $6.9 billion and compare it with cadillac. it's the 52nd best sell r brand. there's no comparison. vw with audi selling 1.3 million audis and about 200,000 caddies for general motors. those are the more profitable cars, mandy. >> that begs the question. do you think there's a point in time in the next

the chevys, the fords, and the vws that are down. still up in europe. >> let me switch gears. i was astounded at how the leaf vehicle has just -- nobody talks about it anymore. i mean, let's talk about this new prius model which goes on sale today. hybrids. is there still a demand out there? >> not as much as there used to be. especially with gas prices higher. you would think the percentage of overall sales of hybrids would increase. it's gone down every year and think about this. there are now 36 hybrids for sale in the u.s. 16 automakers offer one. there are more choices out there, but because people have other options in terms of fuel efficiency, they're saying no to electrics and hybrids right now. >> it's head scratching because of where gasoline is right now. are buyers shifting to more fuel efficient cars and trucks? >> absolutely. you take a look at every month they measure the fuel efficiency of every vehicle sold. it is at a high. that's because those small four cylinder engines much more efficient. that's what people are

here at the vw parkway, not tracking any delays. on the inner loop you may seek delays with the other accident we are tracking. now the latest on the weather. talking a little irish dancing in advance of st. patrick's day. >> the st. patrick's day parade is giving up this sunday, but what we're looking at is a sneak peek of the mchale irish dance company. this is beautiful dancing. you guys practice at the knights of columbus. you say the students have a fun time with it? >> they have a great time with it. it is more of a sense of exercise. to go it someone at home is hoping to get involved in this, how can they do that? stiegel we do have a web site. -- >> we do have a web site. it is wonderful skills. it helps them with people skills. >> teamwork and dedication. all of that. we're showing you the beautiful dance. when we come back, i am going to try it. i will give it a shot. a check of the seven-day forecast. very warm conditions. up to 70 degrees, but increasing clouds. a storm system heading our way. temperatures will drop back

lanes open 95 and vw parkway. your next check of timesaver traffic is 5:38.ack to you. >>> in campaign 2012, today republican presidential hopeful ron paul is making a stop in college park, maryland ahead of next tuesday's primary. >> newt gingrich is scheduled to be in georgetown after some campaign stops in the free state. however the former house speaker has laid off about a third of his campaign staff including his campaign manager. mitt romney stopped in maryland last week, rick santorum has not stopped in maryland recently. >>> and locally the fight for the democratic nomination in maryland's sixth district is heating up. garagiola and delaney lead a pack of democrats in the race. roscoe bartlett is the incumbent but the district was redrawn. >>> expect one more big day of protests outside the u.s. supreme court. that's where justices are hearing oral arguments over president obama's health care reform law for a third and final day. and some of the exchanges tuesday have analysts guessing the law could be in trouble. 9news now reporter delia goncalves i

it is a vw golf that an artist, jonathan shipper, set up in new castle, england.his thing is moving super-duper slow. we're watching really sped-up video here, but this thing is moving just over a quarter of an inch an hour. using slow hydraulics, you can see the car starts to get smashed up. >> the effect is supposed to be the same as if it were a high-speed crash? >> right. well, they removed anything that might explode from the car because of course that would be dangerous but the artist, jonathan shipper, said with a dramatic inevitability that reflects our own mortality over the course of the month, the car is eventually destroyed. >> and this is art -- how? >> art is in the eye of the beholder, beth. >> but it's weird -- it's weird -- it's weird. >> i think it would be cool to walk back and forth and see this thing over time and see the progress of the damage. this whole project isn't finished yet. the car is still slowly, very slowly, being smashed as we speak. it is going to last for an entire month. >>> the hollywood marksmanship. suppose you see 007. do

in fact, vw has three plants coming online.hen you look at the emerging markets, we're seeing explosive growth that kicked off in 2005. back then 20% of all the autos sold in the world were from what were deemed emerging markets. by 2010 more than half of all autos sold came from emerging markets. and india's the other story when you look at asia and auto sales going on over there. it is projected to pass japan by 2015 and it will become the second largest auto market in asia by 2015. so, mandy, the expectation is when you look at certain automakers, tata motors, look at the growth they have seen over the last three months. up 74%. 74%. now, a lot of people are saying, well, listen, that's one isolated period when you look at tata, but the fact of the matter is this explosive growth we've seen over there, it's expected to continue to the states. >> and you thought it couldn't get more crowded here come the next wave of cars. >> the inner cities of china. coastlines are filling and now it's inner cities. >> thank you very much,

. >> top of the heap -- vw chief has seen his salary doubled over the past year. >> is the highest-paid chief executive among germany's dax- listed companies. he earned nearly 17.5 million euros last year, and 87% increase over the previous year, putting him well ahead of the pack. he took home as much as the next two top earners combined. daimler's chief came in second. and the outgoing rwe chief was third. that was little more than the previous year, but the company saw profits plummet in 2011. the bank boss had to make do with the modest 500,000 euros, but his pay is capped under rules laid down by the bank's biggest shareholder, the german government. >> you are watching the "journal" on dw. thanks for joining us. >> for more information, check out our web site, dw.de. hi, i'm janice edwards, inviting you to join us for bay area vista. as you probably know, bay area vista is your show. we're talking about your community, talking about what's important to all of us, here in the bay area. i always thank you for the great job that you do in our bay area. so, that's what tuesdays at 6:3

. >> if i have an app for my vw and it's integrated into the system and this system is integrated intothe entire drive train. >> no, that's actually not the case. >> we're not going to have viruss running on our -- >> no. no. no. >> we've got about a minute left. let me ask you as we watch ford and i think it was gm and volkswagen audi come to silicon valley, we want to encourage this. >> yeah. >> how do we become the intellectual detroit? what would you -- how would you encourage us to continue with what's happening? >> actually, the silicon valley, the perception of the silicon valley from the german perspective is that's an area where people are keen on innovations. it's famous for innovations and it's mainly in the software business. so the thing that can be done and that's actually the reason why volkswagen is investing in that area for quite a while is that we would like to encourage people in the software business to think of, okay, yeah, there is lots of software in the car. maybe never thought about that. that's actually it. there are a lot of -- think of all intelligence, the

literally, you know, vw a year a, go we released the fourth spot about ten days before and it had 10 million hits, viewers on youtube, before the super bowl had ever started. a good percentage of the country had seen it and decided they liked it. the "usa today" polled it's one of the big ones that decides super bowl success, was in many ways influenced by that social media vote of what was good before. so i do think that there's -- the super bowl's an unusual moment of scrutiny for advertising. we don't care, we don't ask about advertising for the most part. we try -- tell ourselves it doesn't affect us and we don't pay attention. the super bowl is the moment where we tune in and watch the ads. so there's become a great game to see whose ads will be effective. so it does change that way. in terms of preparation, just the sheer spans involved in a super bowl spot drives a long cycle of what is the right piece of creative we should put out there. there's also not that many momented on network television anymore where you can get an audience of 1 billion people. there's only one or two

whiie cooncii memberss vw to fight thee clloures....neighborssvent their frustration....15::0:20 out01::7 "what we have is yeers of neglect... in maay of these neighborhood walk-tt 3&pat mmny pools too.but councilwoman middleton ssys - not true- attleast in her district.16:02:02 "tteepool is puul to cappcity all the tiie. i mean, it's like, one of the main outlets in that area." now many wonder - whaa kkds will do -- without a aa tt cool off....15:52::1 "just & stay in the house."melinda roeder.... fox 45 news at ten. 3 the... mayor ...also... plans o.../ cllse... the city's...// 3... indoor pools. .../ áábutáá... will... pools.../ in... city parks.../ pen. p3 a jetblue pilottis facing federal charges after a meetoon in midair. &pmmdair.---plane nnts---- pats----thissvideo was shot by a passenger on board the flight to las vegas yesserddy..- pt shows seveeal people &prestrrining the captain....the trouble starree when the pilot, clayton osbbn.... & started sayinn some strange thhngs in the cockpit.when hh weet to use the bathroom.... &pthe coopilot locked him out of ranting about the

you are also seeing delays between baltimore avenue and vw parkway. it is slow on the beltway from the toll road to 66. 395 is slow often on to duke street. south 95 has delays. there are delays often on past quantico. >> a construction worker quits because of the most sightings. he is not the only one who has seen it. >> the soldier allegedly behind the afghan massacre has not been charged yet. in the court of public opinion there seems to be a wave of sympathy. that story is just ahead. >> starbucks is trying out something new. see what the company is serving oh dear... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was out helping people save money on their car insurance. 2 more! you're doing it! aren't they doing great?! hiiiiiii!! come sweat with me! keep going richard. keep sweating!! geico. fifteen minutes could save you sweat! sweat! fifteen percent or more on car insurance. turn left. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not thatt we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come o

. >> we also didn't mention another big piece of news and that is vw earnings.at with general motors annual profit last year of 7.6 billion. a big discrepancy between the two of those. that speaks to the strength that vw is seeing in europe, in china, growing in india and think about this. they're not really doing much in the united states. they are growing without the second largest auto market in the world. >> it does make you wonder why they should be seeing strength in europe relative strength i should say, relative to what gm has been able to do in europe which is having a tough time getting out of the red. >> germany is a big part of that. that's the strongest economy over there. vw dominates in germany. >> all right. thank you for that. very interesting stuff. when we come back this morning, is your tablet in trouble? why your ipads, kindle fires, nook, even your galaxy could face serious problems in the coming months. we'll explain after the break. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from

area keeping temperatures up in the 50s maybe spotty light rain showers and right now no airport . vwook at rainy forecast coming up. flight tracker will get you going. that's at abc7news.com. we'll be right back. >>> good morning. thanks for starting your day with us i'm kristen sze. >>> i'm eric thomas. in tough economic times one of the first things people give up is routine medical care in oakland, starting this morning a free clinic is offering medical and dental exams to people who don't have insurance. amy hollyfield is live at the coliseum where people began lining up last night. >> reporter: thousands are expected to take advantage of this it going to go on for four days. look at the crowd that is already here. the clinic is opening right now at 5:30. they handed out about 450 numbers at 3:30 this morning. >> 103. >> reporter: now they are calling out the numbers, calling people forward starting to let them go in and get processed. we have 1,000 tickets for today there is still plenty of time to get in. they've given out 460 so far. the people who camped out overnight say the

. >> reporter: in 1960s americans fell in love with the iconic vw beetle.ompany's one sizes fits all vehicles did not always speak the language of u.s. consumers. >> there is a word for this driving experience. >> historically vw brands had strong base in the u.s. more recently we lost our way. so this growth strategy for the u.s. has been about refocusing on the u.s. marketplace which is very, very important market globally. >> ♪ . >> reporter: this darth vader super bowl ad for the new passat speaks to american consumers but so do design changes for the vehicles being built and sold her. >> for sure the car is little bigger than we would build it for europe. on the german autobahn you don't need any cup holders. >> reporter: the addition of 800 new jobs at this facility suggests the that the german automaker is an choiring an american accent. jenna, back to you. jenna: i was curious about your pronunciation of volkswagon. were you giving me a little bit of german at the beginning of this hit, jonathan? >> reporter: in the up throw it rubbed on me. volkswa

hence, vw silicon valley research center. >> this is really where technology is made, not only for thenternet but as well for the automotive industry. >> reporter: the plan is for solozyme's algae-powered fuel to be a cleaner diesel. >> so when you fill up at a diesel gas station, you'll have renewable content in there, and you may not even know it. >> your future fill-up brought to you by algae. >> they will begin testing the algae-powered cars this summer. we have a test drive in on one ourselves and we'll let you know how they do. >>> new details tonight about the death of whitney houston. toxicology tests showed the 48-year-old music icon died of accidental drowning due to cocaine and marijuana use. cocaine and marijuana were both found in her system. she was found under the water in the bathtub at the beverly hilton hotel last month. >>> also new tonight, will an apology be ramirez spoke for the first time after being released from jail. he served ten months after violating his parole. police found a handgun at his apartment in a search for the primary suspect of bryan stowe. last

this is something counterintuitive with europeans dmeep depth, vw is on fire right now. what's going on right there? >> sfrong in germany, which is the one market in europe doing well number one or number two in china and strong in latin america. when you look at volkswagen is strong compared to general motors, look at the luxury division. the audi brand is number 16 in the world, and that's the number one profit driver for all the brands at volkswagen. that's really where the strength is coming. $20.1 billion annual profit last year, bill. the profit margins in the auto division, 17.7%. not bad. >> not bad at all. thanks very much. pain at the pump for many americans is causing pain for president obama at the polls. how big a problem could soaring gas prices be for him? our chief washington correspondent john harwood has the latest on that. john. >> it could be a significant problem because president obama is counting on a rising spirit of economic optimism to lift his chances in the election. the more prices at the pump rise here at the spring dime before the summer dr

vw up 34% year over year. then you have kia up 30%. bmw, mercedes as well.eneral motors down, ford and chrysler up. people need to understand many of the foreign brands are investing in america. consider hyundai responsible for 61,000 jobs in the u.s. $3.a billion in wages. as u.s. carmakers continue to shed, foreign dealers are growing. the bmw added eight. seven of which were minicoopers dealers. the one i'm standing in right now was a dodge dealership that was shuttered. overall bmw invested billions back to 2000. that hasn't changed. the foreign brand investing in america has to be mercedes. they upgraded 300 dealerships. but just because gm, chrysler, ford aren't increasing their dealers, guys, doesn't mean they're not investing in america. take gm, they're trying to upgrade 3,400 dealers that will cost about $3 billion. >> wow. and a lot of jobs are coming with that as well, brian. that is good news. some analysts say we could hit 14 million total cars and trucks sold this year. brian, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> which means auto parts c

take a look at where vw is year-to-date in sales trailing only chrysler among the major brands. when you look at volkswagen stock over the last three months, investors have been pleased with what they've seen here. a gain of 20%. remember, mandy and brian, it wasn't long ago we reported full year earnings last year $20.1 billion. >> look at it goe. go. thank you very much for that. >> the big beneficiaries of this boom, dana holdings, their stock performance for the last few years has been out of this world. in fact, up more than 3,000% over the last three years. this despite nearing bankruptcy just about four years ago. let's bring in brian johnson, senior auto analyst at barclays. and i think, brian, it's important to note that final point i mentioned which is this was essentially a 20-cent stock because of all the bankruptcy fears. it's gone back to nearly $16 thus the 3,000%. do we need to believe that this time, and we mean it, dana holdings, is out of the woods? >> yeah. it was a second near-death experience in 2009. of course they did file and restructure in 2009. now it'

vw parkway an incident that has moved out of the roadway, eastbound 66 traffic stacking up here in manassas, 7100 to 123 approaching the belt way inner loop on the brake, headed toward 66, northbound at 5, bean town, that is a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. >>> all right julie thank you. fox 5 monitoring metro and a new report from metro, crime stay it'sics for the -- statistics for the system, the most problems in 2011 with 66 serious crimes and 6 arrests, anacostia next on the list. metro had a 16% decline in serious incidents in 2011 compared with a 6 year high from 2010. >>> 7:19 a.m., 41 degrees on wednesday morning, the tech world anticipating a big announcement from apple the latest on ipad 3 rumors up next after the break. >> one of america's favorite celebrity chefs facing serious allegations why one of paula deans former employees say she and coworkers were severely mistreated. >>> it promises a diverse and dynamic range of performances and special events holly live with a behind the scenes look at the new america art festival going on right now in dc. fox 5 morning news wil

foreign auto company, vw came in and invested a billion dollars and created thousands of jobs.t happening in the south where foreign automakers are coming in and building across the south to not only sell those cars here but to export them. we are seeing exports pick up but we have a huge way to go to get our manufacturing base back to where it was. some experts say we're not going to get back there, but at least we're picking up a little bit. >> a little bit of good news. thank you, poppy. appreciate it. >> sure. >>> do you eat a lot? a new study shows women vulnerable to overeat when they are at work, 230 women found that had emotional and uncontrolled eating than those not burned out. you can do something about it. pack healthy snacks, like baby carrots, apples, step away from the desk from time to time. take a quick short walk. get a little exercise to replace the chocolate bar you might have chomped on. >>> one soldier may be changing the face of war in afghanistan. the stress level that men and women are dealing with in the combat zone. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes

vw has struggled in the u.s. a little bit. they've added 7. bmw has been investing billions dating back to 2007 and the anymore that stepped up in the last year was mercedes investing $1.4 billion in 300 dealerships nation wide. if you're curious of the status of domestic automakers, they're not expanding at all. they're trying to make the ones they have more profitable. chrysler is an example. in '08 49% of their dealers were profitable. last year it was 86%. they're doing a good job with a lot last dealers. z >> joining us now is kenny d dichter. firks you saw gabe kaplin this week? >> we had dinner. doug allen a free man, he's got the "entourage" movie, of which all three of you are going have a cameo. >> i've had promises from doug on "entourage" before. we're really excited about the project, the success of "hunger games," "21 jump street" tells me that high school crowd is out there. >> i had a midnight meeting with john travolta. i don't care if he's an executive producer, be a key grip but he's excited about just what we're doing. doug

this is really another phase ofu vw's growth strategy here in the u.s.g quality manufacture 2012. >> phil? >> jonathan, adding the production to keep up with demands for soaring sales of the passat, red hot since the reentr reintroduction in the u.s. do you see production cooling off okoverall? >>Ñi no. if anything, we see a steady xd the market ran slightly ahead of people's xaexpectations of januy and february and seeing the industry off forecast up almost a million vehicles compared to laste1 year. we think it may run stronger than that. we believe there's good;jfi] ñr momentum. consumer confidence is coming back in to the car buying sector. andñr this is a great time with low residual -- high residual rates and a great product in thefá marketplace. >> jonathan, do you believe that in a strange way themy soarings be fueling sales a bit looking at the older models, less fuel jt i want toxd buy and might as well buy now for a 30 or 40e1e1 mile per gallon vehicle? yeah. i think there's a lot to that. a lot ofe1 people delayed purche decisions but with t

vw had $20 billion in profits last year.re these days. >> interesting, brian. back on that jobs number, was it 227, the number on friday. viewed by good by members of the white house but the gas prices cuts into it. >> no doubt. and that is the issue and the republicans tried to grab on it a couple weeks ago. i think it still needs to get to record levels to really be an issue. no one is talking about recession or anything like that. and i do want to point out, you would say, willie -- what, 6% is a good, comfortable level of unemployment, correct? >> sure. >> okay. so at the current job growth level, a couple economists told me we would get to that level in 2015. so you know, employment is still a major negative, even though the trend is positive. >> yeah. it's not going anywhere. but if you can keep the trend lines moving -- barnicle, you're right. that gas number, it's going to hurt over the summer. >> yeah. >> brian shactman, cnbc headquarters. thanks, brian. >> just take the tea to again w way. >> there you go. >> appar

general motors earned about $8 billion on last year but vw does say that technology development costsrsal's "the lorax" topped the box office, earned $39.1 million in north american sikt sales. "john carter" was second, the sci-fi flick at $30.6 million and strong job growth report last friday, economists were busy over the weekend lowering growth forecast. steve liesman joins us live from common fund forum in orlando, florida, with more on the growing conflict between the jobs and growth numbers, and steve, you know i felt really geeky earlier today. >> i heard it. i heard it. i loved it. >> i was channeling you. i never knew we'd be talking about oki. who is this guy from like stein beck? >> ochin's law. >> okay, not oki. sounds like "grapes of wrath." >> do people know how much grief you give me for being wonky on this on camera but it's two-fold off camera. >> i find you're not wonky, you're just ahead of the curve. we think it's wonky and i end up talking about it when everybody's talking about it. >> now were we talking about it last week, i want to get this, i looked at the num