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2013 Volkswagen Beetle Turbo Convertible

Less Flower, More Power
Pardon our political incorrectness for a moment, but the Volkswagen New Beetle was, undeniably, a "chick car." There was almost nothing that the New Beetle offered to enthusiasts (of either gender), and by the end of its run, VW had even stripped all of the exciting engines from the car's lineup. Looking to resurrect some of the excitement behind the Beetle, the third generation of the iconic car ditched the cuteness when the coupe debuted for 2012, and now the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible aims to show how much fun drivers can have without a top.
Celebrating almost six and a half decades of the Beetle convertible, Volkswagen is offering a trio of distinct special editions that celebrate three of the car's most popular decades (the '50s, '60s and '70s), but as one of the unofficial cars of the 1960s, it would almost be a crime not to test this version, right? Besides, this is also the only special edition to get the turbocharged engine. While our first drive of the 2013 Beetle Convertible was in the fuel-miser TDI variation, our two-week romp in the 2013 Beetle Convertible '60s Edition came just as peak convertible weather was kicking off down in Florida.

VW lawyers up with firm that defended BP

The string of bad news for Volkswagen shows no sign of slowing yet, especially with the recent resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn. For aid in its legal defense in the US over its ongoing diesel emissions scandal, the automaker has now employed Kirkland & Ellis LLP, which was the same law firm BP used for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to Automotive News. VW is surely hoping that things go easier for it than BP. After the massive oil spill, the company paid $4 billion to settle criminal allegations and another $18.7 billion for the other federal and state claims, Automotive News reports. We'll see. Based on fines for each of the 482,000 diesel vehicles with this evasive software in the US, VW could be on the hook for $18 billion from this lapse. In addition, 11 million units are potentially affected across the globe, and the company is already setting aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.25 billion) in expected costs. The automaker's stock on the German exchange is being hit hard by this scandal. The original discovery of high pollution levels in VW's 2.0-liter TDI engine began with researchers last summer, and the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board had been working on the problem for months before the EPA issued its notice of violation on September 18. A criminal investigation has now begun. The day before his resignation, Winterkorn issued a video where he apologized profusely for the scandal and promised to make things right.

VW uses NorCal Forest to make e-Golf carbon neutral

On the one hand, it's just a forest. There are beautiful redwood trees and clean air, cool, quiet creeks and hidden wildlife. You know, a forest. The kind that have existed for millions of years. On the other, it's a carefully managed collection of natural resources that lets companies pay money to make their products more beneficial to the environment. Welcome to the Garcia River Forest. For our purposes, the Garcia River Forest is interesting because of its connection to Volkswagen. Its young redwoods are helping Volkswagen create something almost unheard of in the automotive industry: a (mostly) carbon-neutral car. The 10,000-foot overview of how this works is as follows: when you buy the electric car, part of your money goes to support three carbon offset projects. These projects (the one in the Garcia River Forest, the Big River And Salmon Creek Forests in California, and the McKinney Landfill in Texas) have put a price on the value of not letting more carbon get into our atmosphere. The calculations come in the form of credits per metric ton of CO2 and VW has paid enough money to cover the emissions it generates during the production and distribution of the e-Golf as well as the charging for around 36,000 miles of driving. VW worked with 3Degrees, a provider of carbon offset services, to calculate the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that each e-Golf will be responsible for, from the factory to the driveway. The Garcia River Forest location is managed by The Conservation Fund (TCF). VW originally announced the carbon-neutral program back when it revealed US details for the e-Golf, in August 2013. Stuart Gardner, project manager at VW of America for the Golf family, told AutoblogGreen that the idea for the carbon offset came from the way VW understands plug-in vehicle buyers. "At Volkswagen, we strive to be leaders in e-mobility and developing alternative powertrains and we realize that, when someone buys an electric vehicle - the e-Golf, for example - they are doing more than just buying an electric vehicle," he said. "They are buying a lifestyle and they want to engage in this lifestyle." VW is not releasing the specific amount of the purchase price of each e-Golf that is directed to the Garcia River Forest (or any other carbon offset projects).