HARTING is piloting the VW ID.Buzz on the "Tour d'Excellence”

Crossing mountains, oceans and transversing the desert – HARTING is supporting the e-mobility road trip initiated by the Geneva Motor Show across Europe and Arabia

Espelkamp, 29 August 2023 --- From Geneva and on to Doha, the capital of Qatar: The Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS), one of the world's leading motor shows since 1905, has announced a special e-mobility challenge with this year’s "Tour d'Excellence". The organisers are heralding the forthcoming inaugural "GIMS Qatar", which will take place from 5 to 14 October. HARTING will be supporting drivers and vehicles with its electromobility technologies on the more than 6,500 km long route.

Innovative vehicles, powered by innovative technology: Piloting two VW ID.Buzz vehicles, the driver duo Frank M. Rinderknecht, founder and CEO of the concept vehicle specialist Rinspeed, and record-breaking driver Rainer Zietlow of Challenge4.de are setting their sights on an extraordinary e-mobility adventure. The two will be transversing several continents and then crossing the Mediterranean – with the route extending from Switzerland to Italy and on to Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In the process, Rinderknecht and Zietlow will be tackling regions where a charging infrastructure hardly exists. Can electric mobility nevertheless function reliably across Europe and beyond national borders? At the end of September, Rinderknecht and Zietlow will be providing the answers when they arrive at their final destination in Qatar.   

The HARTING Technology Group is at their side. The company is VW's Tier 1 supplier of electric cables, VW Group Award 2020 winner in the E-Mobility category and ID.Buzz supplier and develops robust, reliable and user-friendly charging solutions. As Marco Grinblats, Managing Director of HARTING Automotive, explains: "With our partnership-based participation in the 'Tour d'Excellence', we have once again taken the opportunity to demonstrate the performance of our e-mobility solutions. Robustness and performance - these product characteristics are crucial for this tour. Here, the two drivers can fully rely on our charging solutions." Christopher Ukatz, Managing Director of HARTING Germany, is also excited about the upcoming adventure: "We have known Frank M. Rinderknecht and Rainer Zietlow for many years and have already worked successfully with them on several occasions. We are proud to be actively supporting both of them in this first joint project. They are living our HARTING motto, especially in this challenge: 'Pushing Performance'!"

More information and pictures are available at the following link: https://genevamotorshow.com/tour-dexcellence/