Mean, Green, Diesel Machine: Driving the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup car
A couple of years ago when Volkswagen began to kick around the idea of starting a spec racing effort in the U.S. along the lines of its well-regarded European Polo Cup series, the conversation...
View Article2009 Motor Trend Sport/Utility of the Year Contender: Volkswagen Tiguan
Volkswagen affectionately refers to the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan as “the GTI of compact SUVs.” Given that VW’s cuddly crossover shares myriad parts — notably, the 2.0L turbo four-cylinder — with the...
View Article2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year Contender: 2009 Volkswagen CC
Yes, beneath the 2009 Volkswagen CC’s, low four-door coupe bodywork inspired by the Mercedes-Benz CLS (many prefer the VW) lurks the humble transverse-engine DNA of the workhorse...
View ArticlePiech Wins Again: Finally, Volkswagen Buys Porsche
This just in from Wolfsburg: Volkswagen’s supervisory board has met in an “extraordinary meeting to create an integrated automotive group with Porsche…” From Porsche’s first sports car, the 356 in 1948...
View ArticleMagic Bus: Back to Nature in the Modern day Microbus
The Mission: Midwestern uncles expose their So-Cal nephews to the natural wonders of whitewater rafting and camping amidst the bugs and bears.The Machine: The obvious eco-sensitive option for five...
View ArticleVW/Banks Jetta Sidewinder A TDI Cup Racer for the Road
One of the toys offered for my driving pleasure during a recent Bosch event titled “The Drive to 35.5,” organized to showcase fuel-saving technologies like direct piezo injection for clean diesel...
View ArticleVolkswagen TwinDrive: The Peoples Plug In
VW’s primary efficiency push in the U.S. has been with diesel power, but over in Germany the company has launched a test fleet of TwinDrive plug-in electric hybrid Golfs, and I just had a chance to...
View ArticleWhat the Volkswagen Suzuki Deal Means
Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Company may downplay the parallel, but they both now have “saved” Japanese automakers General Motors cast off. First, Toyota bought GM’s 20 percent of Subaru parent Fuji...
View ArticleA Guilty Pleasure: 2010 Volkswagen Scirocco
You’d think one of the world’s largest auto markets would be awash with all sorts of cool cars. But that ain’t necessarily the case: here in America volume beats variety. It’s not just that no-one can...
View ArticleTeslas Founder is VWs Secret Weapon in the Plans to Beat Toyota
You know the name Elon Musk. He’s the PayPal founder who has procured some $550 million in federal funds and has raised some $226 million more in Tesla Motors’ initial public offering. He’s planning to...
View ArticleForget About Art—Volkswagen’s New Jetta is About Radio Play
One quality is universal to really great artists, be they writers, musicians or painters, they all do one thing well that allows them to float above the pool of mediocrity. The true greats make such a...
View ArticleBulli is Not the Microbus Volkswagen of America Needs
Volkswagen unveiled the electric-powered Bulli concept at the Geneva Auto Salon last week. The buzz on this side of the pond is that the new-age Microbus that America has been awaiting since the first...
View Article2011 New York: Why VW’s New Beetle Must Challenge Ford’s Mustang
The 2012 VW Beetle was announced Monday morning as part of a dramatic three city debut in New York, Berlin and Shanghai. After the drapes dropped and speeches were spoken, I had the opportunity to...
View ArticleWill a Machiavellian VW Plot to Buy GM’s Opel Today Lead to Wrestling Matches...
Can General Motors be bullied into selling Opel? That’s what seems to be going on in the German press with the latest revelations regarding GM’s embattled European brand, as reported by Bloomberg...
View ArticleOn Second Thought, I Don’t Like the New Beetle
I went on the first drive launch of the new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle this past summer and wrote a generally positive review. Nice car, drives well, fun, much better than what it replaces. And despite...
View Article2011 LA: A Few of My Favorite Cars
I almost didn’t write this blog. After all, what hasn’t already been written about ad nauseum by dozens of other auto journalists, many more seasoned and influential than I, about their picks and pans...
View ArticleA TDI to Die For: VW Passat Diesel is a Totally Desirable Iteration
What’s the difference between a car you love and car you can’t live without? Answer: 30 horsepower and 22 lb-ft. Such is the case for the Volkswagen Passat TDI and me. If you missed our recent...
View ArticleSales Up, But Too Early to Call it a Boom
Hello from Wolfsburg, Germany, where I missed U.S. January sales reports to attend a Volkswagen program. The news reports I’ve read seem pretty optimistic about the industry’s 11 percent year-over-year...
View ArticleMoney Changes Everything: If Only the Car Business Were Just About Building Cars
The Monday-morning quarterbacking that inevitably follows our Car of the Year announcement always makes for interesting reading. That people will disagree with our choice is no surprise, though I do...
View ArticlePolitics and Economy Underlie the 2012 Paris Auto Show
Greenpeace’s guerilla protest at the Volkswagen press conference backfired the other day. It barely got covered, especially in the U.S. As VW’s product chief, Ulrich Hackenberg, introduced the Mark VII...
View Article
