After banishing Volkswagen Group diesels from the American marketplace, the Environmental Protection Agency is taking its sweet time approving oil burners from other automakers.

So slow is the EPA in providing regulatory thumbs-ups to 2017 model year diesel vehicles, one automaker is re-thinking its plans for the U.S., Automotive News reports. (Read More…)

A German newspaper claims that Audi will buy back 25,000 U.S. vehicles sold with a 3.0-liter diesel V6 engine.

According to a story published in Der Spiegel, the automaker has determined the vehicles cannot be fixed, Reuters reports. A total of 85,000 Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen vehicles contain the same emissions-cheating defeat device found in the automaker’s 2.0-liter TDI engines, which are already in the process of being bought back. (Read More…)

General Motors is surprisingly boastful when it speaks of the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, especially its newfound role as a warm Linus blanket offered to disenfranchised Volkswagen owners.

We’ve been told there’ll be manual transmissions galore, and lets-just-pretend-it’s-a-wagon hatchback variants, too. Now, GM claims a sporty RS version is in the works, which it believes will have VW owners scrambling to trade in their peace signs for bow ties.

Will buyers be kind to the new (and legal) “Whisper Diesel” or is this just an oily pipe dream? (Read More…)

The German government has passed a resolution to ban the sale of internal combustion engines in the European Union by 2030.

Receiving bipartisan support in the German Bundesrat, the resolution calls on the EU Commission in Brussels to ensure only zero-emission passenger vehicles be approved for sale within the next fourteen years.

While the act has no direct legislative implications for Europe as a whole, German regulations could still undoubtedly influence and shape future automotive policies in the EU.

(Read More…)

At the end of September, some of my auto journo colleagues busied themselves with the French delights of Paris, covering new reveals at the Paris Auto Show.

Me? I was somewhere much more in line with my personality, surrounded by heavy-duty trucks at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. With both Ford and Ram cresting the 900 lb-ft of torque mark, the General needed to play catch-up.

Enter Chevy’s new 6.6-liter Duramax Diesel.

(Read More…)

Update: Added statement from Buick.

As Buick rolls out its Avenir sub-brand, slashes underperforming products, and bolsters its crossover and SUV portfolio, the Regal withers on the vine — but not for long.

Speaking with a well-placed source, TTAC gleaned details on the forthcoming Buick Regal, which will be revealed in the second quarter of 2017, possibly at the New York International Auto Show.

(Read More…)

The Chevrolet Cruze Diesel returns in 2017, packing a smaller oil-burning four-cylinder and more torque than the first-generation model, but there’s another major change from its predecessor.

According to GMInsideNews, the next-generation Cruze Diesel will offer both a manual and automatic transmission. Clearly, GM wasn’t lying about its plan to romance former Volkswagen owners. (Read More…)

It has been a year since we learned that Volkswagen’s tranquil and oh-so-green “clean diesel” utopia was actually a carefully constructed facade hiding a scorched wasteland of pollution and lies. Apparently, that doesn’t mean the jokes need to stop.

The scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research has awarded the financially hurting automaker with a notorious prize that most recipients usually build a fun evening around. It’s extremely, no, absolutely likely that Volkswagen didn’t appreciate the humor. (Read More…)

A document containing official horsepower and torque numbers for General Motors’ new 6.6-liter V8 Duramax turbo-diesel was found buried on the GM Powertrain website — before the company quickly deleted it.  (Read More…)

Chevrolet has lifted the curtain on its next-generation Equinox, revealing a host of technological and styling updates for a long-running model that had grown long in the tooth.

The changes coming for the 2018 model year put the Equinox as a proper compact SUV, as the slimmed-down model sheds significant weight and adopts a trio of turbocharged four-cylinders. Going out on a limb in the red-hot market segment, Chevrolet plans to offer a diesel. (Read More…)

The U.S. federal indictment of Volkswagen engineer James Liang, stemming from the automaker’s effort to cheat on emissions testing of their supposedly “clean” diesel engines, mentions an as-yet unindicted co-conspirator, “Company A”.

That firm allegedly helped Liang and his team at VW develop the software routine that only activated emissions controls when vehicles were being emissions tested. Company A was identified in the indictment as a Berlin-based automotive engineering company that is 50 percent owned by the Volkswagen group, which is also Company A’s biggest customer. (Read More…)

A criminal charge has been laid in the U.S. Justice Department’s probe into the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal.

A Volkswagen engineer pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in a U.S. District Court in Detroit today, Reuters reports. (Read More…)

Volkswagen continues to claim that with enough time, it can figure out a way to fix 85,000 high-end diesel vehicles in the U.S. without having to buy them back. There’s a problem, though. Time is running out.

After the presiding over yesterday’s settlement deal between Volkswagen and its dealers, a U.S. District Court judge gave the automaker two months to submit a fix for its 3.0-liter TDI models, Reuters reports. (Read More…)

There’s money to be made when automakers screw up.

Sometimes, being part of a class-action lawsuit isn’t enough, and you’ve got to wage a Charles Bronson-like battle for personal justice. That’s what newly unemployed actor Thomas Gibson is doing. His target? The maker of his Audi SUV. (Read More…)

Lawyers representing U.S. Volkswagen owners claim European auto parts supplier Bosch was a willing accomplice in the scheme to deceive diesel buyers and regulators.

The scandal forced the automaker into a $15.3 billion settlement in the U.S., but its corporate partners escaped relatively unscathed. That might not be the case anymore, Bloomberg reports. (Read More…)