At the dawn of recorded history, a German auto manufacturer unveiled a concept vehicle and promised North America — then weighed down by the oppressive bulk of towering ice sheets — a new midsize SUV.

Okay, that was only 2013, but it seems that the Volkswagen Teramont (VW hasn’t confirmed the name) has been in development for eons. Billed by some as the automaker’s make-or-break model in the U.S., the Teramont is a seven-seat SUV that borrows its design language from the CrossBlue concept. The automaker’s Chattanooga, Tennessee assembly plant will give birth to the model next year.

Now we know what lies under its hood. (Read More…)

Volkswagen is two weeks away from unveiling the future of its company, with high hopes that it will scrub away some of the stigma left by the diesel emissions scandal.

The automaker plans to pivot from oil to electrons with a heavily electrified vehicle lineup, and a showpiece concept heading to the Paris Motor Show precedes an actual EV with up to 373 miles of range, Autoblog reports.
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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…)

It’s a sad day for Volkswagen Golf GTI purists and fanboys. The GTI — one of autodom’s quintessential hot hatches — will lose its two-door variant in the U.S. as the scandal-rocked automaker jettisons low-volume offerings.

A very familiar face and name broke the story at Jalopnik after a Volkswagen product manager mentioned the cancellation during the company’s Golf Alltrack media test drive. (Read More…)

Volkswagen is heavily considering adding an all-wheel-drive variant of the Golf hatchback to its North American lineup, TTAC learned during the media launch for the all-new Volkswagen Alltrack, itself an all-wheel-drive version of the Volkswagen Golf SportWagen.

Dr. Hendrik Muth, vice-president of product marketing and strategy, explained the addition of 4Motion production to Volkswagen’s Puebla manufacturing facility in Mexico has opened up more possibilities, including the addition of all-wheel drive to the standard Golf hatchback.

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Volkswagen’s commercial vehicles division is eager to enter the U.S. heavy truck market, and it just found a partner to help pull it off.

Volkswagen Truck & Bus has announced it will buy a 16.6 percent stake in U.S. truck maker Navistar International Corp., a share buy worth $256 million. Both companies hope to save money (and make more of it) through the technology-sharing deal, with joint products on the horizon. (Read More…)

The youthful squealing could be heard down the long driveway and through several panes of glass. When I told my daughters that I’d be picking them up from the babysitter’s house in something different, they had no idea what chariot would ferry them to softball and cheerleading practice that eventing.

My girls aren’t gearheads by most definitions. While I’m not necessarily brainwashing their preteen skulls with minutiae and data about every car on the road, I’m not letting them become numb to the wonder that is the modern car. My youngest, soon to be eight, ran screaming from the door: “BEETLE!” That’s the power of an iconic brand.

However, I’m thinking the girls reacted most viscerally to the searing yellow paint.

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A Czech SUV that borrows its name from an Alaskan town, island and bear has been revealed ahead of its launch later today.

The Škoda Kodiaq has been teased by the surging automaker throughout its lengthy development, but here it is in the flesh. The low-resolution images leaked on the Serbian enthusiast forum Skodaforum.rs earlier today. Will it show up in America, or is a corporate cousin too close? (Read More…)

Faced with the option of waiting to see if their cars can be fixed or accepting a hefty cash payout, diesel Volkswagen owners are opting to take the money and run.

Once-fierce loyalty to the dirty “clean diesels” seems to have evaporated, as most owners who’ve registered for the settlement want the automaker to buy back their car, Automotive News reports. (Read More…)

Former Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch resigned his position a month after questioning and failing to get answers from ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn about the company’s defeat devices, an internal probe revealed.

The finding from the investigation by U.S. law firm Jones Day was published in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Bloomberg reports, shedding light on the power struggle that preceded the diesel emissions scandal. (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…)

It didn’t take long for sources to squeal about the size of the settlement forged yesterday between Volkswagen and its ornery U.S. dealer network.

According to people familiar with the deal, 652 VW dealers will share about $1.2 billion to offset losses from unsold vehicles and sunk costs, Bloomberg reports. But cash is only one part of the company’s plan. The other involves its customers’ wallets. (Read More…)

America’s Volkswagen dealers took the brunt of the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal, but a cash payout designed to ease their troubles is on the way.

Lawyers for the dealers, who were once poised to revolt against their employer, announced a tentative settlement deal with the automaker today, Reuters reports. (Read More…)

Volkswagen’s long-awaited three-row SUV has appeared on a Chinese website completely free of camouflage, months ahead of its expected appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Chattanooga-built SUV, which will likely take the Teramont name, draws inspiration from the 2013 CrossBlue concept and is a big part of Volkswagen’s planned American brand revival.  (Read More…)

Updated with details on all-wheel drive being standard equipment for Alltrack.

Volkswagen of America needs a winner as it reels from the ongoing diesel emissions scandal, and its forthcoming Alltrack — a jacked-up, all-wheel-drive version of the SportWagen — is hopefully just the ticket.

As Volkswagen prepares to launch the new model on American shores, it’s all hands on deck for the German automaker as it sends representatives from its internal training department to every single dealership in the United States.

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