Volkswagen News

How large an engine do you need in a mid-size car? Just a few years ago, the answer would have been a V-6 of 2.8 to 3.5 liters, perhaps with a base model offering a four of 2.4 to 2.8 liters. Then Hyundai announced in late 2009 that it would abandon V-6 engines altogether for its 2010 Sonata...

It appears Volkswagen is copying Toyota’s commitment to offer a hybrid option on every model in its lineup, if the latest comments from the automaker’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, are to be believed. The German auto giant sees hybrids, more specifically, range-extended plug-in hybrids, as...

In some new cars, you can't learn enough over the course of a first drive. There's not enough time to experience every handling nuance, or every electronic helper, in a hundred miles or less. With the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, you'll find the opposite. Spending more than 2000 miles behind the...

The motoring world is gripped with Beetlemania at the moment, and it's got nothing to do with four plucky young musicians from England. Instead, Volkswagen's latest incarnation of the popular Beetle has been wowing the crowds at New York, Berlin and Shanghai, and virtually anyone with access to a...

A while back (read years) AllSmallCars.com ran an article about the Volkswagen New Beetle and how it seemed to be a little long in the tooth for consumers. Indeed, the New Beetle as it had been called since reintroduction in the late ‘90s hadn’t seen a lot of change—at least none...

If you're in the States, you may be just starting your day. But in Switzerland, the flurry of activity during the first media day at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show is at its peak. With record numbers of concept and production-car launches, our team is shooting photos and posting details as fast as they...

The automotive industry hasn’t seen a Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet since 2002 when it was discontinued. That is until now. For the 2011 Geneva Auto Show VW revives the Golf Cabriolet, but it might not be as straightforward as it sounds. The car is targeted to go on sale this summer, but where is...

Got a 2009 or 2010 Volkswagen Golf or Jetta with the TDI clean diesel engine? Or an Audi A3 TDI? Ever had the engine stall unexpectedly? If so, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration might like to hear from you. The NHTSA announced Friday on its website that it is upgrading an...

With fuel-efficiency and emissions regulations tightening all over the world, carmakers continue to push the limits on how economical a production car can get. The latest entrant in the high-mileage stakes: a future edition of Volkswagen's Up minicar that will return 79 miles per gallon using a...

Volkswagen unveiled a new car at the 2011 Qatar Motor Show this week, a car that also caught the attention of the BBC in the UK. The car they unveiled isn’t a production car, but instead a new concept car that highlights that there could be alternatives to all-electric cars—at least...

As an electric car enthusiast or recently-converted gearhead, you'll no doubt be aware of the huge variety of clubs out there for virtually any make and model or automotive scene you can think of. For many people, a thriving scene and great social network might be the difference between choosing...

We've loved the concept of the Audi A1 e-Tron concept since its launch at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show last March. It's a range-extended electric vehicle (like the 2011 Chevy Volt) that uses a tiny Wankel rotary engine to run a generator that produces electricity to power the car once its lithium-ion...

Unless you're Argonne Laboratories, putting gasoline into a diesel fueled car is a bad problem. Maybe it was brain fade. Perhaps you rented or borrowed an unfamiliar car. Or you simply didn't realize that nice Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz was a new, clean-diesel car. (It also happens to particularly...

When I met last month with Volkswagen to ride inside a prototype 2012 Golf Blue e-motion, I was eager to experience this all-electric version of its popular 2011 Golf hatchback. It will go into production as a 2013 model. But I also knew something the VW public relations corps didn't: the location...

With the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show past us, it's time to look toward January's 2011 Detroit Auto Show. Which should have a lot of interesting green cars, if early reports are any guide. Never mind the debut of what's now called the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic (nee Aveo). One of the most eagerly...

It’s a little-known fact that between the late 1970s and mid 1990s Volkswagen made a series of limited-run electric cars based on the VW Golf platform. Thirty years later, VW’s latest offering, the 2013 Golf Blue-e-motion made its first appearance in the U.K, winning an eco-driving...

In Europe Fiat sells its funky 500 minicar with an optional 0.9-liter two-cylinder engine that when equipped with an automatic transmission returns an impressive fuel economy of 57.4 mpg for the European combined cycle. With Volkswagen now working on a similar sized vehicle, the upcoming Up...

VW hasn't yet unveiled the final version of its upcoming Up minicar, which will be smaller than the smallest vehicle it sells in Europe today, the Volkswagen Polo subcompact. But the company has already discussed the car's price there: around 10,000 Euros, or about $14,100 at today's exchange rate...

Volkswagen is intent on becoming the world’s leading automaker by 2018 and that means being the top dog in every segment, including hybrid and electric vehicles. Recently the automaker announced plans to start building its own electric powertrains, as well as confirming plans to expand its...

Before unveiling the redesigned 2011 Jetta, Volkswagen decided to drop a special treat into the lineup of the 2010 model--a TDI Cup Street Edition. Like the old SCCA Showroom Stock categories, the TDI Cup competitors are recognizably production models with some racing equipment added on. Hoping to...