Of all the wild-ass rumors we hear on a weeklydaily hourly basis, this one has that special air of cow manure. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen is considering a pickup truck for the U.S. based off the second generation Beetle, which is due out around the turn of the decade.
The rationale behind this implausible idea stems from VW's goal to boost annual vehicle sales in the U.S. from its current 230,000 units to 1 million vehicle sales per year by 2018. Other derivatives of the new new Beetle could also include a crossover and a wagon.
Although the recently revealed VW Pickup Concept is only bound for markets outside the U.S. and Europe, a compelling case can be made for a light-duty truck for occasional haulers here in the States. But we somehow doubt that the U.S. consumers could warm up to a Beetle-based truck – nostalgia can only go so far.
In the land of mergers and acquisitions, there are takeovers, there are hostile takeovers, and then there are I'm Gonna Git You Sucka No Matter What takeovers. Porsche's increasingly acrimonious battle to swallow VW is becoming that third option, and the brawl might threaten the short term plans of Porsche, VW and Audi. Porsche wants access to Audi engines and electronics, but VW, which owns more than 99-percent of Audi, won't allow it.
Porsche has de facto control of VW, with a 35.1-percent share. The so-called VW Law, which allows the government of Lower Saxony ultimate veto power even though it has only a 20-percent share, has been the broadsword that both VW and Germany have been using to keep Porsche at bay. The law has been struck down at least three times by the EU Commission and a German Court, only to have politicians figure out how to rewrite it without changing the substance of it.
VW's supverisory board recently declared it would need to approve any sharing between Porsche and Audi, and at the moment, Porsche can't overrule that decision. Ferdinand Piech, the head of VW, is in a battle with the Porsche family and Wendelin Wiedeking, the CEO of Porsche, over control, and neither is expected to budge. The risk is that since no one knows how this is all going to play out, a battle of egos and punitive reactions could interrupt development of and platform sharing between – and therefore the profits of – all three manufacturers' future products and technology.
The VW Jetta TDI has proven to be quite popular in the short time it's been on sale here in the U.S.: it has put sales of the Tiguan in the cooler and the ones that are available are very hard to get. Now the fairest Jetta of them all has set a Guinness World Record by traversing the lower 48 U.S. states while returning 58.82 mpg thanks to John and Helen Taylor.
The Taylors took 20 days to cover the 9,419 miles in a counter clockwise direction, and this wasn't a hypermiling slow-as-you-can-go affair – they stayed within 5 mph of the speed limit. Their car was completely stock as it consumed just 11 tanks of ultra low sulfur diesel and traveled 853 miles per fill up. With that kind of mileage and handling high up on the fun factor, the Jetta TDI makes an excellent case for itself if you like driving and want to lower your fuel consumption.
VW also recently told us that the go-fast Jetta TDIs in the TDI Cup Series are returning an average of 25 mpg and doing their entire 7-race series on just two tanks of gas, which includes qualifying. If that's true, there's got to be another world record in there somewhere...
Click above for high-res gallery of the VW Golf VI
These days, when discussions turn towards the cars we'll be driving a few years from now, efficiency and emissions are two unavoidable topics. Such is the case with the next-next generation of the VW Golf, following the sixth iteration that will hit European dealerships later this year. So, what will the seventh version have in store for us? Smaller engines and a smaller structure. For the last few decades, every succeeding redesign was just a bit bigger and more powerful that its predecessor. Expect that trend to end with the Mk VII Golf. You can bet that diesels will account for a larger percentage of sales too, possibly even in the States.
Just when are we likely to see Golf v7.0? Rumors point to 2012, but VeeDub is keeping quiet. What they do admit to, however, is working on it as you read this.
Click to view the VW Golf Collectors Edition in hi-res
Remember when the Volkswagen Golf was meant to be an economy car? Well those days may be long gone, if they weren't already, as customers in Europe have demonstrated a willingness to shell out extra for luxury options even on less-than-premium automobiles. To cash in on that demand, European automakers have been scrambling to launch luxury option packages, complete with leather and all the trimmings, like Volkswagen has done with the first special edition of the new sixth-generation Golf.
Called, quite simply, the Collectors Edition, the exclusive new Golf tops the range of trim levels. The exterior is sprayed in an especially dark shade of blue which Volkswagen calls "Moonlight blue pearl effect" with matching grille. The 18-inch "Vancouver" wheels have been given a special high-gloss finish. But it's the interior that has been given the really special treatment, swathed in "Iowa" natural leather with piano-lacquer dash inserts and aluminum kick-plates. The special edition, supervised specifically by design chief Walter de Silva – whose initials adorn the vehicle – is being launched in its German market specification; we wouldn't expect it to make it to the US market any time soon, but you can still check out the press release after the jump and the trio of images in the gallery below.
Click above for high-res gallery of the VW Concept Pickup
Volkswagen's entry into the "one-ton" truck fray has officially hit the Web before its proper unveiling at the 62nd IAA Commercial Vehicles Show, and although it's only called the "Concept Pickup" for now, this spartan work truck is what consumers in South America and other emerging markets (not the U.S. and Europe) will likely know as the Robust when it goes into production In Pacheco, Argentina next year.
Blending V-Dub style with a profile reminiscent of the Honda Ridgeline, the double-cab concept is tarted up with SAR badges, a functional light bar and all the life-saving tools that you'd find in a coastal search-and-rescue-mobile, include a Baywatch-style "can" in the bed.
We're partial to the massive grille and deep air dam that spans the fascia, along with the bars flanking the bed and the incredibly production-ready interior. Both gasoline and diesel powerplants will be available when the production version goes on sale next year, and if it were 1995, we'd loved to see the VW pickup available in the U.S.
Every time Porsche re-does its core product – the 911 – we anticipate a staggered roll-out of new derivatives. Now that Porsche has Volkswagen by the reins, we can expect VW to undertake the same as it unveils new versions of its core offering, known here as the Rabbit and elsewhere as the Golf, now out in the open in its sixth iteration. Short of a new R32, enthusiasts are undoubtedly looking forward most to the new GTI. And if the latest reports are any indication, Volkswagen won't be keeping its fans waiting any longer as the MkVI GTI is tipped to be unveiled next week at the Paris show. Of course we'll be on hand to see if that's the case, so stay tuned, sports(car) fans.
Pickup truck sales have tanked here in the States, but in emerging markets, affordable haulers are still in demand. VW has announced that those markets would get a sneak peak at the concept version of its upcoming pickup truck offering at next week's Commercial Vehicles Show in Hanover, Germany. Our friend Mike Levine over at Pickuptrucks.com says that while VW calls the upcoming truck a one ton, it's more like a mid-sizer. Since the spy pics we showed you back in April were of a Toyota HiLux body sitting atop VW internals, we'd tend to agree with that statement.
Names on the table for VW's upcoming truck are the Robust and Taro II, and it's to be built in Pacheco, Argentina beginning next year. The Robust was not designed for the US market, so Stateside VW fans will have to cut the back out of a Touareg if they need an open truck bed.
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Volkswagen CC
Is "four-door coupe" an oxymoron or a clever twist on automotive design rules? That was a popular question among the 50 or so journalists invited to drive Volkswagen's new CC from Atlanta to Nashville last week.
The seemingly contradictory term was apparently first used to describe the Rover P5 Mark II in 1962, but was revived more recently when Mercedes introduced its CLS in 2004. In both cases the cars' low rooflines defied conventional saloon styling and needed a unique descriptor for marketing pizazz.
When rumors of the VW CC began to leak out, some speculated the CLS would be its main target. But Volkswagen learned from the disappointing U.S. acceptance of the Phaeton: Luxury buyers pay for brand cache as much as they do for supple leather and high-tech gadgets. This time around, says Brett Scott, VW's product planning manager, they expect many of their customers to be Camry and Accord shoppers attracted to the CC's stand-out styling.
Click above for a hi-res gallery of the '01 VW Microbus concept
The 2001 VW Microbus concept was really cool; so much so that it looked like it was headed for 2005 production. Then the project started getting expensive at the same time the U.S. dollar began to hit the skids. So, then-boss Bernd Pischetsrieder swung the axe, and it was curtains for the retro breadbox. Fast-forward to the present. Instead of a spiffy new Microbus, we now have the Routan, which is fake German for "Dodge Caravan." Not very exciting, to say the least.
A revival of Flower Power's official vehicle seemed hopeless -- until now. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that VW's entertaining the possibility of a 21st-century Microbus built on the same platform as the new sedan that'll pe produced at VW's Chattanooga, TN facility. An unnamed "senior Volkswagen official" told the paper that European production's basically a non-starter, and Volkswagen Group of America's Jill Bratina played it coy, saying only that a second vehicle line out of Chattanooga is "conceivable in the foreseeable future." A locally-built, car-based Microbus is an idea that certainly piques our interest. How about yours?
(Oh, and by the way, should you ever decide to move to Brazil, you can still kick it old-school down there in the meantime.)
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