Vehicle air conditioner with heat pump refrigerant cycle

An air conditioner for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, comprising:

• an air conditioning case defining an air passage through which air flows into the passenger compartment;
• and
• a heat exchanger for performing a heat exchange with air to be blown into the passenger compartment, the heat exchanger being disposed in the air conditioning case to form a bypass passage through which air flows to a downstream side while bypassing the heat exchanger, wherein:
• the heat exchanger is an interior heat exchanger of a heat pump refrigerant cycle, the interior heat exchanger being disposed in the heat pump refrigerant cycle to radiate heat to and to absorb heat from the air to be blown into the passenger compartment;
• and
• in a defogging mode, air mainly passing through the bypass passage is blown toward a first area in the passenger compartment, near a windshield of the vehicle, and air mainly passing through the heat exchanger is blown toward a second area in the passenger compartment, separated from the windshield.