Volkswagen, as it slides further into sales bedlam, has decided the best thing to boost its profile in America is a pink Beetle with a hashtag for a name.
I wish I was making this up.
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Toyota isn’t looking to buy just Google’s legged-robot R&D firm Boston Dynamics. The automaker also has its eye on another company under the Alphabet X nee Google X umbrella.
That, Volkswagen wants its own “Gigafactory”, and ACEA releases its 2016-2017 Automobile Industry Pocket Guide for your to nerd out on … after the break.
The history of the city of Wolfsburg, Saxony, in Germany is inseparable from that of Volkswagen.
The municipality was established originally in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben. It was intended as a model town based around the factory the Nazis built to make Dr. Porsche’s KdF-Wagen, what became the Type I Volkswagen, or Beetle.
To put that historical link between the automobile company and the city into an artistic context, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is holding an exhibition running through November 9, 2016 titled “Wolfsburg Unlimited: A City As A World Laboratory“. Read More >
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to turn off the free electricity taps at his company’s Supercharger stations for owners of the upcoming Model 3.
Musk made the announcement last night during a question and answer session at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.
Paying to use the Tesla-financed recharging network isn’t something the roughly 373,000 reservation holders want, but the decision comes down to basic economics, said Musk. Read More >
I hate it when people get ripped off. And judging by your reaction to Bark’s piece last week about a dealer in Florida, you hate it too.
The latest con job to be posted to the Interwebs involves someone who’s no stranger to crime: John Hennessey. The Texas-based tuner of extraordinary supercars, Hennessey Performance Engineering, might not be building cars as exclusive as it purports — that is if it builds them at all, reports Jalopnik.
It’s common for younger and more progressive members of the B&B to lambaste me as a sort of grunting throwback to a past that never truly existed, a Triceratops grazing contentedly through a field of single mothers, pernambuco-necked guitars, and filets mignon while the participation-trophy-shaped asteroid of genderless, sexless, non-meritocratic, feelings-centric, pansy-assed Millennial culture streaks overhead to announce my impending doom. Maybe they’re right — but it doesn’t feel that way to me. The truth is that for most of my life I never really sympathized much with traditional Western culture or “caveman fragile masculinity” or any of that stuff.
When I was a young man, I saw myself as a progressive, non-traditional thinker. If there was a machine out there, so to speak, I wanted to rage against it. Obviously, I’m not exactly Charleston Heston, you know? I listen to disco music and order lime green cars and refer to Robert Bly every chance I get. Yet, here I am, taking a last stand against the overwhelming hordes of adult-kickball players and streaming-video addicts. If nobody else is going to stand up for the culture that lifted us from the caves of Altamira to the Manhattan Project, then I’m going to do it. You could argue that I’m in the position of the last Byzantine emperors: making a last-ditch stand to preserve a system to which I was not born.
With all of this in mind, I’d like to sit down with all of you and take a serious, considered look at the video below the jump. I’d like to argue that it represents several important trends in modern culture — trends of which many TTAC readers approve in theory but might be surprised to see taken to their logical extremes.
After the Mitsubishi fuel economy scandal triggered a Japan-wide investigation into fuel economy claims, Suzuki is now in a similar situation as its diamond-starred competitor.
But the reasoning behind Suzuki’s misdeed is different: the automaker, it claims, was destitute.
No one’s really sure what the B-Class is, so Mercedes-Benz seems ready to add a crossover version to lure utility-obsessed buyers.
The automaker recently registered the GLB name, implying a sporty crossover based on the unpopular front-wheel-drive B-class people hauler — a model so confused, it sells more in Canada than it does in the United States. Read More >
The diesel emissions scandal can’t be blamed for all of Volkswagen’s sales woes.
Today, the automaker announced first-quarter profits fell 86 percent compared to the same time last year, not surprising given its sidelined diesel models, the hit to its reputation, and a hastily cobbled together $18.2 billion scandal fund.
Worldwide sales of Volkswagen passenger cars fell 1.3 percent (year-over-year) this quarter, but the scandal doesn’t tell the whole story. That number would have been in positive territory if select countries weren’t grab-your-money-and-get-out economic disasters. Read More >
If you’re a Tesla owner who spent the past year diligently convincing your friends and family to join the club, clear your schedule for July 29.
The electric automaker recently mailed out invites to a grand opening party for its battery-producing Gigafactory, located (like a Bond villain’s lair) in the desert outside Reno, Nevada. The chances of guests being wowed by a fully operational factory humming with workers busily cranking out EV batteries is doubtful, though. Read More >
America — would you buy a modern Škoda?
According to AutoGuide, Škoda submitted four separate trademark applications for “Skoda Superb”, “Superb”, “Octavia”, and “Yeti” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 24 and May 25, 2016. USPTO has yet to publish them for opposition.
While this is nothing new for Škoda (the company has continually filed trademarks in America since the 1920s), it’s worth noting what the company applied to trademark compared to what it usually trademarks.
BMW plans to re-introduce the range-topping 8 Series in order to battle its German competition, a report says.
A company insider confirmed to Auto Express that the ultra-luxury two-door, which originally ran from 1989 to 1999, will return to the lineup. Read More >
First-quarter earnings just released by Volkswagen Group show a massive hit to the company’s namesake brand, all thanks to fallout from the diesel emissions scandal.
Profit at Volkswagen passenger cars fell 86 percent to 73 million euros ($81 million), down from 514 million euros last year. That plunge leaves the brand with a nano particle-thin operating margin of 0.3 percent.
Still, the scandal isn’t a killing blow for the company. Why? Investment advisers aren’t lying when they say diversity is key to weathering shocks. Read More >
After a short rally in the price of oil, WTI and brent crude prices have plateaued over the last week ahead of an OPEC meeting Thursday, and increased oil production from Iraq beginning next month.
That, Porsche leaked the new Panamera, and women are more likely to buy vehicles on their own after the jump.
There’s a lot of you out on the roads today, heading back from relatives’s homes or vacation spots. Or maybe you’re keeping it local by attending a family barbecue or tackling a backyard (or garage) project.
Summer’s here, and that tarp-covered classic needs a once-over (or maybe a whole lot more than that) before it hits the streets, but take some time today to remember those who aren’t here for the ride.
The country’s service men and women deserve undying gratitude for volunteering to put themselves in harm’s way on your behalf. It’s a job — a duty, to those who answer the call — that carries great risk and requires equally great courage, and many fail to return home because of it.
The sacrifice of fallen soldiers and military personnel from past and current conflicts deserve to be recognized by those they served. Turn your evening drive into a one-car parade for them.
We’re taking the rest of the day away from our keyboards today. So should you, keyboard warriors.
[Image: Shawn Harquail/Flickr]
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