While Volkswagen was experimenting with self-parking systems as early as 1992’s IRVW concept car (pictured), new reports from Brit magazine Autocar indicate that a completely driverless version of the technology is in the works for production.
Unlike the Toyota developed parking aids, which allow a driver to parallel park a car without touching the wheel, VW’s system is said to do be capable of doing its thing with no human inside the car at all. Maybe we’re just being a little short sighted but we can’t think of too many situations in which that would come in handy.
Nevertheless, VW tells Autocar, “the technology the system uses is all in use today in one form or another. It is now a matter of perfecting the system for everyday use.”
For some time now, reports and rumors had us believing that a U.S.-market diesel variant of the Volkswagen Tiguan was a done deal. Today at the Boulder, Colorado launch of VW’s new compact softroader, we were reminded that you can’t always believe what you hear—and you can’t always get what you want.
The first 2009 Tigs are rolling into dealerships as you read this, but all of them will be powered by the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four that’s found under the hood of the GTI hot hatch. In U.S.-spec guise, that means an even 200 horsepower and 207 pound feet of torque, yoked to either a 6-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic with a manumatic gear lever. EPA mileage figures range depending on transmission choice and the number of driven wheels, but a front-drive manual S model receives a rating of 19 city / 26 highway. The full-boat SEL with 4Motion and automatic transmission returns 18 city / 24 highway.
Apparently the car-buying public is quite enamored with Volkswagen’s 1.4-liter TFSI engine, as the German automaker is reportedly struggling to keep production in-line with demand. British Autocar reports in the latest copy of its print edition that VW can’t supply enough examples of the powerplant to the wider VW group.
The factory that produces the 1.4 TFSI is just able to keep up with the needs of Volkswagen itself, meaning brands like Seat are being left in the cold. Seat’s supply of the engine is currently under restriction; bad news for fans of the Spanish VW variant, and for the company’s bottom line.
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Seat’s new design, under the leadership of former Lamborghini stylist Luc Donkerwolke, is planning an interesting visual approach with its new models according to the latest print version of Autocar magazine.
Donkerwolke isn’t interested in creating a “family” of cars connected with styling that rests largely on grille and headlight design. Starting with the new Ibiza, Seat will attempt to connect its car visually with “striking lines on the car’s flanks.”
While it’s unclear is the average customer will be able to see the brand connection in styling elements that don’t include a vehicle’s “face,” we’re awfully interested in seeing the early results of the new philosophy.
(Peek into Seat’s new styling with the Bocanegra concept from Geneva below.)
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Volkswagen reported yesterday that it had narrowed its list of possiblel locatins for a potential manufacturing facility in the U.S. The German automaker said that a final descision on whether or not to build in the U.S., and where, will come sometime this summer.
VW group of America president Stefan Jacoby (pictured) said on Wednesday that the list of potential locations had been narrowed to Alabama, Michigan, and Tennessee. “We reviewed many excellent sites and the process to narrow down the locations was not an easy one,” said Jacoby.
Jacoby went on to say that the company was evaluating things like site readiness, logistics, and of course cost, as it continues to mull over the U.S. facility. VW has said that the strengthening price of the euro is what’s ultimately driving its move, with the currency’s strength against the U.S. dollar making America a logical target for production.
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While Audi is still planning to bring forth a hotted-up version of its TT coupe by around 2010, the car’s name has been the subject of a little wrestling within the larger Volkswagen Group family.
While the new TT was originally slated to be called the TT RS, Autocar is reporting in its April 9 magazine that newly powerful VW Group voices at Porsche put the kibosh on that title. The Porsche boys have made it clear that RS belongs to them…when it comes at the end of a name.
“Porsche has the monopoly on the ‘RS’ suffix in the VW Group,” said the VW source. “Audi can only use it as a prefix, as in ‘RS6’.”
RS or no, we’re just excited that Audi is still steaming forward with its designs on a 340 horsepower TT.
(Here’s an Audi that follows the rules, an RS6 Avant, in our gallery below.)
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Members within the Volkswagen group seem to be getting pretty excited about the possibilities for the rear-engined Up! city car, but none more than Czech subsidiary Skoda.
The VW faction is wrangling to get a brand new factory within the Czech Republic that would be able to pump out up to a quarter of a million cars per year. British weekly Autocar is also reporting in its April 9 issue that VW is considering a low-cost version of the Up!, seemingly tailor-made for markets like Eastern Europe, which could push production at the theoretical Skoda factory to 500,000 units per year.
Refresh your knowledge of the VW Space Up! concept in our gallery below.
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Volkswagen has launched an assortment of online videos to promote its newest member, the 2009 Scirocco. The second in the series, “Pursuit” shows a rather collected Scirocco owner outwitting a passel of exceedingly stupid police with one handbrake turn, and a game of “wait for it” inside an airplane hanger. Worst soundtrack…ever. Enjoy.
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Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech controls a company that builds a wide swath of vehicle types, but there is one that the chairman still believes is missing…the motorcycle.
In a recent interview by German magazine Stern, Piech said that he would still like “a small, valuable motorcycle manufacturer.” The VW boss seems to be suffering from a long-term case of regret over missing an opportunity to purchase Italian motorcycle builder Ducati during some financial struggles in 1985.
“I myself drive a Ducati,” said a longing Piech, “180 horses and more power per kilogram weight than a 1,001-hp Bugatti.”
Perhaps the longing to get into the motorbike business will prompt Piech to jump start the abandoned and supremely cool GX3 three-wheeler project of a few years ago.
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German news publication Handeisblatt is reporting that Volkswagen is looking for ways to increase its output in the booming Chinese auto market. The automaker is reportedly looking at purchasing an existing Chinese facility, or a Fiat plant within the country as a means of extending production.
Winifried Vahland, head of VW China, has said that the current VW facilities are “running at full capacity,” indicating that the company will definitely look to increase its production to meet strengthening demand.
Volkswagen has set goals of selling 1 million cars in China this year and to make the market the company’s biggest outside of Germany by next year. VW is also said to be planning yearly investments of 750 million euros until 2010 to help meet these lofty targets.
(Check out the most Chinese of VWs, the Santana, in our gallery below.)
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The Volkswagen Passat, which recently graced our test fleet, has left us quite perplexed. That’s mostly because this front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder model carries an as-tested price tag of just over $37,000. Sure, our test Passat was loaded to the brim with leather upholstery, navigation, moonroof, seventeen-inch alloys, and a handful of other goodies, but the engine specs just don’t cut it, especially when we could get a more powerful Acura TL or BMW 3-series for roughly the same price.
Click through the jump to read our impressions and click the images below to open a gallery.
While most of the people we’ve talked to seemed to find Volkswagen’s European “singing dog ad” for the Polo to be amusing and rather harmless, a serious contingent of animal rights activists saw it differently.
Critics of the commercial referenced a portion that shows the dog, played by two terriers called Cody and Bear, shaking in “fear” of its owner. Some animal rights groups believed that at worst the dog was mistreated to behave in such a way, and at best was giving the wrong impression to the public by showing an animal that feared its owner.
(Click through the jump to read on.)
While Volkswagen was experimenting with self-parking systems as early as 1992’s IRVW concept car (pictured), new reports from Brit magazine Autocar indicate that a completely driverless version of the technology is in the works for production.
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