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Driving the McLaren GT, Audi S7 and Vintage Electric Cafe bicycle | Autoblog Podcast #639

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. This week, they've been having some fun in the McLaren GT and the Toyota 86 GT. James has spent some time with the very lovely Vintage Electric Cafe e-bike. They've also been driving the Ford Ranger and Audi S7. In the news, Ford gets new leadership, and Micro Machines are back, baby! Autoblog Podcast #639 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Reviews 2020 McLaren GT 2020 Toyota 86  Vintage Electric Cafe e-bike 2020 Ford Ranger 2020 Audi S7 New Ford CEO Jim Farley faces immediate challenges Micro Machines are back in stores, including the famous Super Van City Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

VW reaches out to diesel consumers with new website

Volkswagen is starting to get details out to the public about its diesel emissions evasions in the US, and the automaker now has a dedicated website for consumers. The first thing that visitors see is an apology video from Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn. The site also details all of the VW TDI's currently known to be affected here, including the 2009-2015 Jetta, 2009-2014 Jetta SportWagen, 2010-2015 Golf, 2015 Golf SportWagen, 2012-2015 Beetle and Beetle convertible, and 2012-2015 Passat. Although, the Audi A3 should be on there, too. The company repeatedly reassures owners that these vehicles are safe to drive and promises it's developing a fix as quickly as possible to make them emissions compliant. On the site's FAQ, VW also clarifies that there's still a stop-sale on all of these models with the 2.0-liter TDI, including certified pre-owned ones. That could change soon because the automaker believes that the 2016 model year examples are legal, but the Environmental Protection Agency needs to sign off before they could go to dealers. Until the diesels can be sold, there also won't be any TDI advertising by VW. "We are working at full speed on a technical solution that we will present to partners, to our customers and to the public as swiftly as possible," Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen passenger car division, says in a statement. He also offers an improved accounting of the number of vehicles affected. VW had previously said that there were 11 million with the emissions evading software worldwide. According to Diess, around five million of these came from the VW brand. Audi has said there about 2.1 million of its models affected globally with between 13,000 and 14,000 in America. DR. HERBERT DIESS, CEO OF THE VOLKSWAGEN PASSENGER CARS BRAND, EXPLAINS: "WE ARE WORKING AT FULL SPEED ON A SOLUTION." Wolfsburg, September 25, 2015 – In the press release dated September 22, 2015, the Volkswagen Group announced that Volkswagen Group vehicles worldwide are affected by the current issues regarding emissions. The internal evaluation revealed that approximately five million Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand vehicles are affected worldwide. Certain models and model years of these vehicles (such as the sixth generation Volkswagen Golf, the seventh generation Volkswagen Passat and the first generation Volkswagen Tiguan) are equipped exclusively with type EA 189 diesel engines.

Audi trademarks SQ2, SQ4, Q9 and F-Tron nameplates

Audi is planning a whole raft of new models for the near future, and now we have further insight into what at least some of those models might be. The German automaker has reportedly filed trademarks for a series of model names, including SQ2, SQ4, Q9 and F-Tron.
Following in the footsteps of the SQ5 performance crossover, the SQ2 and SQ4 nameplates would seem to indicate that Audi is planning performance versions of its upcoming compact crossovers. The Q9 would suggest that a larger crossover is in the works to slot in above the already gargantuan Q7. And the F-Tron name could be used for a fuel-cell version of the A7 or other models, following a similar naming pattern to the e-tron range of electric vehicles.
Of course Audi could simply be filing these trademarks as a safeguard and may not actually build any of these models. But one way or another, it indicates a certain measure of intent exists as Ingolstadt gears up to expand its lineup with 11 new models in the next few years.