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VW sales increase 0.6% in September despite diesel scandal

Volkswagen was spared in the month of September from posting a sales disaster, but in reality, the impending doom and gloom is likely just postponed until October. According to VW, it delivered 26,141 vehicles to its dealerships last month, which represents a 0.6-percent gain over the same period a year ago. While up, that meager increase represents the smallest uptick of all major brands in the United States, which is currently in the middle of the best vehicular sales year in the last decade. Audi, the German automaker's mainstream luxury unit, saw a bigger gain at 16.2 percent with 17,340 total units sold, thanks in large part to the popularity of its crossover models. These numbers can't totally be taken at face value, however. In 2014, Labor Day weekend was counted as part of August's sales figures; in 2015, that traditional car-buying holiday fell early in September and is therefore partly responsible for the huge increases from all brands doing business in the United States. Remember, the diesel emissions scandal didn't hit the news until September 18, which means VW was free to sell its 2.0-liter TDI engine for the majority of the month. In other words, October is going to be the real indicator of sales reckoning as it will be the first full month that the brand can't sell its popular diesel models and the first since its emissions scandal broke. Still, TDI sales were down last month. VW reports a total of 3,060 sales of vehicles equipped with TDI engines, which represents 11.7 percent of total volume. That's nearly cut in half from the TDI's year-to-date volume percentage of 20.4 percent. "We would like to thank dealers and customers for the support of the Volkswagen brand," said Mark McNabb, chief operating officer for Volkswagen of America in a statement. "Volkswagen will continue to work diligently to regain trust and confidence in our brand." It's not yet clear exactly when VW will issue a fix to make its 2.0-liter TDI engine emissions legal, or when the EPA will recertify those models for sale. Once those two things happen, dealers will again be free to sell vehicles equipped with the powertrain, but even then it remains to be seen how consumers react when the sales ban is lifted. Scroll down below for all the sales data from Volkswagen in September.

Audi's next R8 snapped running the 'Ring nearly naked

Following the debut of the Lamborghini Huracán, work is now well well under way on its cousin. That, of course, would be the next-generation Audi R8, the followup to the model that put Ingolstadt on the supercar map in 2006 and has been on the market ever since. That's an eight-year lifespan, though to be fair, for 2014 it has gotten a pretty meaningful update. Still, that's a long lifecycle, even if the Gallardo with which it shares its underpinnings was around even longer. In other words, it's about due for replacement.
Fortunately, that's just what Audi has in the cards. We've seen prototypes wearing heavy camouflage lapping the Nürburgring a couple of times over the past few weeks, but now it's been snapped nearly completely undisguised, with largely bare black bodywork giving us an even better look at what to anticipate.
So what are we looking at here? A sharper-looking take on the existing design, for starters, so onlookers and customers alike shouldn't have any trouble identifying this as an R8 - but a newer one at that. It seems to take some cues from the new TT, particularly around the headlights, with more squared-off elements throughout. There's an adaptive rear wing poking out the back and more pronounced side-blade intakes between the doors and the rear wheels, which themselves are wearing ultra low-profile rubber.

Autoblog Podcast #402

Episode #402 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Brandon Turkus talk about the Audi A3 TDI Challenge and luxury car features we not-so-secretly love. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #402: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: Audi A3 TDI road trip Luxury features we're sort of ashamed we love In The Autoblog Garage: 2014 Land Rover LR4 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Brandon Turkus Runtime: 01:17:40 Rundown: Intro & Garage - 00:00 Audi A3 TDI Challenge - 42:51 Luxury Features We Love - 01:00:05 Q&A - 01:09:17 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Aston Martin Audi Dodge Land Rover Diesel Vehicles Luxury Performance aston martin vanquish