How do you produce record gains while your home market goes to hell in a hand basket? Volkswagen has the answer: You try to keep the lid on the hand basket and sell like hell elsewhere. The Volkswagen Group delivered 2.16 million vehicles globally in the first quarter of 2012, up 9.6 percent from the same period in 2011.This was the first time that the two million mark was crossed in the first quarter of a year. Record deliveries were also recorded for the month of March: 862,700 units, up 12.5 percent from 767,100 in March 2011. (Read More…)

There are automakers that treat you like a moron. They sell you a fuel saving package that costs so much and/or saves so little that you won’t see the savings until you and the car are ancient. As some comments will surely prove, there are people who like to be treated as morons. For those, some alleged fuel saving packages serve a purpose. Some like to be insulted, whipped and charged $800 by a dominatrix, others prefer the same treatment from a dealer. Nothing wrong with it amongst consenting adults. (Read More…)

“Gas prices are nearing $4 per gallon nationwide and consumers are getting reluctant to pay any additional money at the pump when buying a new vehicle,” said Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.  This changes buying pattern, and it might influence election results. Important as the topic may be, foreign carmakers continue to give you the most mileage. American carmakers lag. (Read More…)

Are you proud driving a car that not everybody drives? Then better turn off the phone, install an aggressive spam filter, or, even better, leave the country until America elects a president in November. Or drive a Mitsubishi. If you don’t, you will be bombarded with calls and messages. Campaign managers call it microtargeting. You will call it a royal pain. (Read More…)

For a long time, carbon fiber was a high tech, high cost product. Slowly, carbon fiber is going mainstream. From Volkswagen to Toyota and GM, large automakers have carbon fiber projects in the works. Now, Ford is joining the bandwagon made from lightweight fiber.

Ford  joined up with fiber specialist Dow Chemical “to develop cost-effective ways of using carbon fiber in high-volume cars and trucks as the No.2 U.S. automaker moves to cut vehicle weight to improve overall fuel economy,” Reuters writes. (Read More…)

China’s March numbers are in and they are – ok. The first quarter is down a little, March is up a little. People who were hoping for a return of unbridled growth are just as disappointed as those who had wished the pox of a monster crash on China. (Read More…)

It would be a great announcement to start the Beijing Auto Show, opening to the media in the world’s largest car market on April 23. Audi has its eyes on another date in the calendar: On April 18, a day before VW’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg, Audi should announce the purchase of Italy’s motorcycle maker Ducati, sources tell Reuters.

The story has been around for a while, but a due diligence check takes time. Audi’s auditors did not find any hidden skeletons, reports the wire service. Other papers, such as the Corriere de la Sera, and Germany’s Handelsblatt agree.

Ducati would round out Volkswagen’s brand portfolio nicely. It would have everything from heavy trucks, even ship engines, to screaming superbikes. It also would flip the bird at Audi’s Bavarian rival BMW.

Record new car sales are not the news one does expect from Europe. But those are the news from Germany.

One by one, German automakers – with the notable exception of Opel – are reporting unheard-of numbers. Let’s have a look. (Read More…)

TTACers have known it for quite some while: Europeans won’t get a Prius C / Aqua compact hybrid, they will get a hybrid Yaris. Today, the first one rolled off the line at Toyota’s plant in Valenciennes, in the north of France. (Read More…)

Used car prices have been rising for a while to a degree that sometimes it can be cheaper to buy new than used. If you have been sitting on the fence, it could be time to hop on down. Used car prices are predicted to peak within the next two months. (Read More…)

Today, British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived at a state visit to Japan. His trip was feted as a success even before his plane touched down at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.  Nissan announced that a new midsized model will be produced at Nissan’s Sunderland Plant in 2014. (Read More…)

China is Porsche’s second largest market (behind the U.S.) and most of the Porsches shipped to the Middle Kingdom are Cayennes. No wonder that Porsche will choose the upcoming Beijing Auto Show to present a successor to its brutish GTS. (Read More…)

Carglass is one of the most lucrative sectors of the sometimes obscenely lucrative auto service business. Their eyes glaze over when purveyors of pristine panes talk about a new trend in car design: Glass roofs. (Read More…)

U.S. president Obama was not allowed drive the Volt down the Hamtramck assembly line. His colleague in Turkmenistan does not suffer such tight restrictions and was allowed to win Turkmenistan’s first car race. (Read More…)

Rumors of Audi starting U.S. production have been floating around for a while. Tennesseans in Chattanooga had hoped  Audi would move in with Volkswagen. These hopes have been dashed over the weekend. Germany’s Spiegel reports that Audi will get its own plant in Mexico. (Read More…)