With the employment of Curauá fibres for the Fox headliner, Volkswagen strikes out in a new direction: on the one hand, an organic, fast-growing material is deployed, on the other hand, new jobs are created in some underprivileged areas of Brazil due to the new demand of Curauá fibres.

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A vehicle’s roof consists of Polyurethan lather fortified with glass fibre - except new Fox. In this car, the new organic fibre “Curauá” is used. Curauá is a Bromelia plant (latin: Ananas lucidus Miller) and has in comparison to ordinary materials several advantages: It is 100 percent organically grown and 100 percent recyclable. Furthermore, it is odourless and has a pleasant surface structure. Due to its excellent material attributes regarding weight and stability, the Curauá fibre is highly suitable as a material for automotive interior parts.

With this new approach, Volkswagen is cooperating with the Brazilian research and development programme “Poverty and Environment of the Amazone”, also named “Poema”. Consequently, approximately 10,000 new jobs for the original inhabitants in the Brazilian state Pará near the city of Santarém, are to be added by the end of 2006. In addition to earning a wage employees and their families also gain access to schools and medical facilities, which continues to be out of reach for a significant part of Brazil’s population.