Volkswagen News

  • Volkswagen's new Budack engine cycle

    Volkswagen isn't reinventing the way your internal combustion engine works. The automaker has, however, created a new twist on the Otto cycle that's a revised version of the Atkinson cycle. Your standard Otto cycle is the one with which you're most familiar. It's made up of intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. The Atkinson version of this cycle involves leaving the intake portion of your 4-stroke process open for a bit longer so it carries over into the compression stage. What Volkswagen has done is create a new version of this, and it's called the Budack cycle. Let's back up for a...

  • Volkswagen ID Crozz concept
    Electric SUV based on VW ID Crozz concept coming in 2020

    Volkswagen’s next electric car on sale in the United States will be a production version of the ID Crozz SUV concept first shown in April at the 2017 Shanghai auto show. It will arrive in showrooms in 2020 and is expected to be similar in size to the Tiguan. VW made the confirmation on...

  • 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line
    2018 Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line adds style and spice for a reasonable price

    The Volkswagen Tiguan is a nice, handsome option in the small SUV segment. It is not, however, very sporty looking. Enter the latest Volkswagen R-Line package. Attached to the 2018 Tiguan, this affordably priced trim package adds an extra dose of spice to this currywurst of a crossover...

  • Ferdinand Piech, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group, at 2000 Paris Motor Show
    End of an era as Ferdinand Piëch finally cut ties with VW Group

    Two years ago, Ferdinand Piëch, then chairman of the Volkswagen Group, resigned from his post following a public spat with Martin Wintekorn, who was the automaker’s CEO at the time. The 80-year-old has now cut all ties with the VW Group by offloading his sizable stake in Porsche...

  • 2016 Volkswagen Beetle TDI Convertible
    Next Volkswagen Beetle to be electric, rear-wheel drive?

    Should reported plans for a next-generation Volkswagen Beetle pan out, the iconic car will see a major transformation. On Friday, Autocar reported VW is actively considering a rear-wheel-drive, all-electric Beetle. The change would harken back to the original Beetle, which was rear-wheel drive with...

  • Volkswagen announces Google quantum computer partnership
    Google and VW will use quantum computers to develop battery, self-driving technology

    Volkswagen will embark on a transformation of its business through electric cars and self-driving technology, and it is looking elsewhere to bolster its technological capabilities. On Monday, the German automaker announced a partnership with Google to work with quantum computers for future battery...

  • 2018 Volkswagen Polo GTI

    Volkswagen in the summer unveiled a new generation of its Polo subcompact. The most potent model is the Polo GTI with 197 horsepower on tap, but an even spicier Polo R has not been ruled out. The German automaker unveiled a prototype Polo R in 2014. The car was based on the previous-generation Polo platform and had about 250 hp. It also had an all-wheel-drive system. Several years on and the car is still no closer to production, Autocar reports. Insiders have revealed to the British publication that the production green light is yet to be given. One likely reason is concern the car will be...

  • 150 millionth Volkswagen delivered
    Volkswagen delivers its 150 millionth car: a Golf GTE

    The Volkswagen brand spans more than 150 markets around the world, and over the course of decades, it's finally delivered its 150 millionth car. And fittingly, it's an electrified (and rather sporty) vehicle: a Golf GTE plug-in hybrid. The brand delivered the milestone car in Norway, also fitting...

  • 1973 Volkswagen Thing
    Volkswagen might bring back Thing as an electric car

    Volkswagen thinks the possibilities are plentiful to bring back some of its most iconic vehicles from the past, thanks to its dedicated MEB electric car platform. The latest retro revival? The Volkswagen Thing, which graced the United States for just two model years before disappearing. The...

  • 2019 Volkswagen Jetta spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
    Next-gen Jetta will have a manual; new Jetta GLI arriving quickly

    The next-generation, 2019 Volkswagen Jetta will launch with a manual transmission and a higher-performance Jetta GLI will quickly follow, Volkswagen leadership told Motor Authority over the weekend. Volkswagen Group of America's President Hinrich J. Woebcken and VWoA's Senior Vice President Product...

  • 2019 Volkswagen Jetta spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
    2019 Volkswagen Jetta spy shots

    Volkswagen’s Jetta is about to be redesigned, as evidenced by the recent sighting of a prototype. The current Jetta, the nameplate's sixth iteration, has been on sale since 2011. We’re expecting the new 7th-generation model to debut early next year, as a 2019 model. The car will finally...

  • 2014 Volkswagen Scirocco
    Volkswagen kills the Scirocco hatchback coupe

    It's time to pour one out for Volkswagen's long-running two-door hatchback "coupe," the Scirocco. Volkswagen officially announced the Scirocco's demise and said it will not take additional orders for the car. Customers still seeking their own example will have to scour local European dealerships...

  • Volkswagen e-Delivery

    Volkswagen Truck & Bus, the Volkswagen Group’s commercial vehicles unit responsible for the Man and Scania brands, and also a strategic partner of Navistar in the United States, is the latest to announce a commitment to electrification. The company wants to introduce electric vans and trucks for what is referred to as "last mile transportation services," i.e. the delivery of parcels to end customers. This is a booming industry as more people move into cities and buy more of their goods online. And since it requires less range, last mile transportation services are ideal for electric...

  • 2016 Volkswagen Jetta GLI
    The 2018 Volkswagen Jetta GLI's manual transmission bites the dust

    We hope you weren't planning to #GiveAShift in a shiny new 2018 Volkswagen Jetta GLI. Because you can't. VW has largely carried over its sportiest Jetta into the 2018 model year, albeit with one important change: you can't order it with three pedals. That's right, no manual transmission is offered...

  • Volkswagen looks back on 50 years of Baja racing
    VW celebrates 50 years of Baja desert racing

    A Volkswagen Beetle was made to get down and dirty. Why else would the lovable little craft be used continuously for the last 50 years to blast across the Mexican desert. Well, blast might be a strong word but these tough machines have been competing in the Baja 1000 for decades, and there's no...

  • 2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI
    VW introduces 6-year/72,000-mile warranty

    Volkswagen doesn’t quite have the same reputation for dependability as some of its rivals, an issue only worsened by the diesel scandal. The automaker is keen to change perceptions, though. That’s why it announced on Friday a new 6-year/72,000-mile (whichever comes first) People First...

  • 2016 Volkswagen Up!
    Volkswagen Group low-cost brand back on the table?

    The VW Group for years has been mulling whether to launch a low-cost brand to challenge the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance’s successful Dacia brand as well as some popular emerging market brands such as India’s Tata and several offerings from China. The biggest hurdle remains...

  • Wolfgang Hatz
    Report: Former Porsche R&D chief arrested in connection to diesel scandal

    Former Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz who stepped down in the wake of the diesel scandal afflicting the Volkswagen Group has been arrested in Germany as part of an investigation into the scandal by local prosecutors, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. German business...

  • Mercedes-Benz EQA concept, 2017 Frankfurt auto show

    The 2017 Frankfurt Auto Show was full of new cars and futuristic designs, but one word hummed in the background: electrification. Many major automakers announced that they would produce more electric or electrified vehicles in the near future, while others doubled down on moving to fully electrified portfolios with a self-imposed date. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group were the latest. Both German automakers announced their plans to move to a fully electrified lineup over the next decade at the show's preview days last week. Mercedes-Benz said by 2022 all of its cars will offer an...

  • Volkswagen ID Buzz concept, 2017 Detroit auto show
    Volkswagen readying flagship electric sedan concept for 2018 Geneva Motor Show

    The Volkswagen Phaeton never quite reached the potential VW likely felt it had, but the German automaker is preparing a flagship sedan comeback—and it's going to be completely electric. Volkswagen confirmed it will show an all-electric flagship sedan concept vehicle at the 2018 Geneva motor...

  • Volkswagen ID Crozz II concept, 2017 Frankfurt auto show
    VW’s newest ID Crozz electric SUV concept looks almost production ready

    Hot on the heels of last month’s confirmation that an electric Microbus is coming based on the ID Buzz concept unveiled at the 2017 Detroit auto show, Volkswagen is showing us a new ID Crozz II concept that previews a small electric SUV due in 2020. The concept is an evolution of the ID Crozz...

  • 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI SE
    VW engineer receives 40-month prison term, $200,000 fine for diesel scandal

    Former Volkswagen engineer and German citizen James Liang was sentenced on Friday in a Detroit court to 40 months in prison and given a fine of $200,000 for his involvement in the Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox and was...

  • Volkswagen ID Buzz Concept
    What it's like to drive a concept car

    When an automaker says its concept vehicle is powered by unicorn farts, emits only cotton candy, and can accelerate from 0-60 mph in two shakes of a lamb's tail, don't believe them. What they are actually saying is, "If we ever develop the technology to build this thing, that's what it could do."...

  • 2018 Volkswagen T-Roc
    Volkswagen T-Roc revealed in production guise

    Volkswagen’s SUV onslaught continues with the reveal this week of the T-Roc. The funky compact crossover SUV was first previewed in 2014 by a concept of the same name. Now the production version has been revealed just a few weeks out from the world debut at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show in...

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