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Volkswagen lays off 500 Chattanooga workers

The redesigned Volkswagen Passat has been a decent seller since its debut in 2011, but sales have apparently dropped off enough that the automaker is trimming some of the employees from its Chattanooga, TN assembly plant. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen will be cutting shifts and laying off 500 contracted workers in response to slowing sales.
Currently, the plant has three teams running 10-hour shifts Monday through Saturday, but starting May 13, this will be reduced down to two teams running 10-hour shifts Monday through Thursday. This will be done to reduce dealer inventory (the article says that VW dealers, on average, have a 97-day supply of Passats) and production capacity (currently running at an annual pace of 170,000 units, which is more than the 150,000 annual units the plant was planned to produce).
This, of course, isn't saying that the Passat has been a failure since VW added 200 full-time employees to the plant in February 2012 to keep up with increased demand. The AN article says that automakers frequently overstaff plants during the launch of a new product - or in this case, a new product and a new plant - but eventually reduce the workers as things run smoother and more efficiently.

Daimler boss says VW scandal dings 'Made in Germany' brand

"Made in X." "A product of X." "From X with pride." Virtually every country on the globe attaches some kind of moniker to the products it sells, and they generally carry a lot of weight. A Swiss-made watch is better than one made in China, and an Italian suit is better than something from Vietnam. For cars, the "Made In" label is a bit trickier, and is certainly open to opinions. That doesn't mean there isn't some nationalistic pride in play. With the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, there's real concern among at least one German that Wolfsburg has caused serious damage to the "Made In Germany" label. Daimler-Benz boss Dr. Dieter Zetsche called VW's use of emissions-cheating devices "a blow to our industry." "I think a strength of 'Made in Germany' and of the German auto industry is a perception that these are reliable brands and you can trust them," Zetsche said at a meeting of the Economic Club of Washington, The Detroit News reports. "It's up to us to rebuild that trust because we haven't done anything wrong." Zetsche also took the opportunity to reaffirm that Mercedes-Benz has never and will never use defeat devices in its vehicles. The exec also said he doesn't think the company has lost any sales from VW's cheating.

2015 Volkswagen GTI [w/video]

The 911 Of Hot Hatches Takes The Compact Game To New Levels
North American car buyers get a bit of a slap in the face when it comes to delivery schedules for new the Volkswagen Golf and pumped-up GTI models. We'll just repeat the old chestnut: It's worth the wait... even though it still stinks. This time around, Western Europe is taking deliveries of the new Golf as we speak, and GTI deliveries start between May and July. North America doesn't get the Mk7 Golf or GTI until about July of 2014.
So we approached our first drive of the new GTI with this chip on our shoulder: "You're making us wait? Well, then at least give us the exact car we'll be able to buy. No compromises, mein freund." And so it was that we extracted nearly all of our drive impressions from behind the wheel of what, for the United States, will technically be a model year 2015 two-door Volkswagen Golf GTI Performance with the standard six-speed manual.