Volkswagen Automobiles Blog

This year’s Worthersee Festival may be the loudest one yet. Among the many GTIs featured at the event is the GTI Black Dynamic, which boasts an 1800-watt sound system packed in the trunk. VW says Nine apprentices between the ages of 18 and 23, dubbed mechatronics technicians, performed the modifications. The ...    Read more

Thanks to numerous setbacks last year, Toyota was bumped from its title of the world's largest automaker. Fret no more, Toyota fans: a new report from the Detroit Free Press states that as of the first quarter of this year the Japanese juggernaut has reclaimed its crown. Last year, General Motors ...    Read more

Given that it’s the world’s largest gathering of Audis and Volkswagens, Austria’s Wörthersee Festival is a big deal. Audi has taken notice and is planning on bringing three Q3 SUV-based concepts and a hybrid two-wheeler to this year’s event. Those that think ...    Read more

Perhaps the EPA should consider a new rating system for John and Helen Taylor, the noted hypermiling duo from Australia. The couple travelled an amazing 1626 miles on one tank of fuel and they did it in a 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI, setting a ...    Read more

Following the enthusiastic public reception of the Cross Up! and Buggy Up! concepts that debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, Volkswagen is reportedly considering an Up!-based SUV, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt. SUVs are one of the fastest-growing vehicle ...    Read more

U.S. and German automakers have agreed on a common EV charger in an effort to spread the use of electric vehicles. Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche, and Volkswagen will demonstrate the DC-fast charging with a ...    Read more

Mainstream  flying cars may not be too far off into the future, as Volkswagen's People's Choice Project suggests. More than 119,000 vehicle and technological ideas were submitted as part of the Chinese project, and while ...    Read more

In the high-volume compact car segment, the 2012 Toyota Corolla pulled ahead of the pack with 24,804 units sold last month. Just a few hundred units shy of the Corolla was the 2012 Honda Civic, which found its way home to 24,423 customers ...    Read more

My, how the mighty have fallen: in a month where the midsize segment's top contender and bottom third didn't change, competitors from Chrysler, Honda, and Nissan are making things interesting. As we just said, the top spot didn't change at all in April: the Toyota Camry sold 36,820 units, enough to ...    Read more

Volkswagen sales shot up 31.5 percent during April thanks to strong gains from models such as the Beetle, GTI, and Passat. The diesel TDI models also did well and accounted from 21.3 percent of the brand’s sales last month, up 35.2 percent compared to April 2011. “The demand and enthusiasm for ...    Read more

Select model-year 2013 Volkswagens will receive a four-year subscription to SiriusXM Traffic, a service that updates drivers with live traffic reports. The subscription is offered on certain models equipped with factory navigation systems. The navigation systems eligible for the four-year subscription include the RNS 510 and RNS 850, which ...    Read more

Although offered with an optional turbocharged engine and even the ultra-rare VR6-powered RS model, the previous-generation Volkswagen New Beetle could never quite totally shake its “chick car” image. The 2012 model has a shape and styling designed to appeal to a ...    Read more

If we learned anything about compact crossovers late last year, it was that 2012 would shape up to be the year of the fuel economy number, with the key face-off being between the 2012 Honda CR-V, 2013 Mazda CX-5, and 2013 Ford Escape. Ford has released the final EPA fuel economy ...    Read more

E-Bugster Concept Volkswagen’s E-Bugster concept loses its top at the Beijing auto show this week. The electric-powered roadster loses its removable hardtop from January’s Detroit auto show debut and previews a Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet model. The E-Bugster concept is powered by a 114-hp electric motor capable of a leisurely ...    Read more

“The proof is in the pudding,” says a very old English proverb. Some of my experiences in the month of March this year -- through which my solid distaste for two contemporary cars has been seriously tempered by actually driving them in real-world conditions – illustrated the proverb, because the ...    Read more

It must have been like déjà vu for the members of Volkswagen's supervisory board: just as he did 10 years ago with the L1, Volkswagen Group Board Chairman Ferdinand Piech rolled up in the latest example of his one-liter car pet project, the XL1. This isn't the first time that ...    Read more

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Audi has made it official and purchased Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati. That makes it the third Italian company owned by Audi, complementing the design studio Italdesign and exotic car manufacturer Lamborghini. The actual transaction is still pending as Audi and Ducati wait for regulatory ...    Read more

A late March explosion at a chemical manufacturer's plant in Germany could have an adverse effect on automotive production across the globe, a Bloomberg BusinessWeek report suggests. Evonik Industries produces a key ingredient to make automotive resin – a product used in both brake and fuel lines – and up ...    Read more

WardsAuto editors "10 Best Interiors" list for 2012 includes four subcompact or compact models, suggesting yet again that driving a cheap car doesn’t always mean settling for a cheap cabin. This year’s competition included 40 entries; editors do not place rankings on the 10 winners. “We saw a ...    Read more

Volkswagen America is launching the Golf R Ultimate Fan Experience contest, which is highlighted by an opportunity to drive its hot hatch around Germany’s legendary Nurburgring track. Here are the details: ...    Read more

We may not all be getting tax refunds this year, but according to CNN Money, the average American household will be getting $2913 back. Depending on if you’re part of the 99 Percent or the 1 Percent, that’s either a whole lot of scratch, or a dinner out with your ...    Read more

While it’s likely no one will ever cross-shop the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR and 2012 Volkswagen Golf R, the two sports cars do share a few similarities. Both have a turbocharged four-cylinder that sends power to all four wheels and offer the practicality of four ...    Read more

Automakers offering restoration services for vehicles they built decades before isn’t exactly uncommon. Aston Martin’s Works Heritage Service will gladly maintain your wanna-be-Bond DB5. Mercedes-Benz Classic will restore a 600 Grosser, a 300SL Gullwing, and everything in between. And Volkswagen, it seems, is more than willing to give your Microbus ...    Read more

The compact sales race was close in March, with just four units separating the top two spots, and only a 94-unit difference between first and third place. The sales volume victor for the month was the Ford Focus, which sold 28,293 units. Coming in right on its heels ...    Read more

March was a month with little surprises in the midsize sedan segment. The winner's list reads almost exactly the same as last month, and as we said last month, there's something of a natural pecking order among the competitors. Three of the cars from the middle of the pack, the ...    Read more