1965 Volkswagen Original Beetle on 2040-cars

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Audi spending an additional $2.5 billion on expansion through 2019

Every year, it seems the Volkswagen Group announces a new and larger spend to push growth and profit, with Audi a regular recipient of the moolah. That's reasonable, seeing as hauls in 40 percent of Group operating profits. In December last year Audi said it would spend an additional 100 million euros ($122M US) per year through 2018 to develop new models and expand production, targeting 60 models by 2020 and luxury sales leadership. This month Audi said it will boost that by another two billion euros ($2.5B US) over the next five years, for a total outlay of 24 billion euros from 2014 to 2019. Something like 70 percent of those billions will be spent on new models, technology like "connectivity and lightweight construction," and factory expansion at its plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. Most of the ten models that will plump the lineup to 60 cars will mainly be aimed at the C and D segments, as well as crossovers, the brand's burgeoning portfolio of PHEV models, and all-electric cars that will begin staking ground in the segment. The big spend comes at the same time as Audi is working hard to reduce costs by $2.5 billion to maintain profitability, part of a larger push by VW to cut costs by $6.1 billion by 2017. More than a billion euros will go to new factories in Mexico and Brazil. Work begins on the Mexico plant next year, and when it comes on-line in 2016, Audi's Q5 successor will roll out of its warehouse doors; Audi has already announced it will hire 850 more workers next year in Mexico. When that's done, Mexico's production of German luxury cars will only trail that of Germany, China and the US. The company's Brazil plant will produce the A3 and S3 starting next year, and the brand figures luxury car buying there will triple by 2017. News Source: Reuters Earnings/Financials Plants/Manufacturing Audi Volkswagen Luxury Mexico Brazil ulrich hackenberg

Driving a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle, and the 2021 Kia K5 arrives | Autoblog Podcast #634

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They start with what they've been driving this week, including the 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 diesel, 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport and a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. They move on to the news, covering the 2021 Kia K5, Geneva Motor Show (canceled again), Maserati's new engine and a new extended reality experience here at Autoblog. Finally, the guys spend some money for a listener who just had twins. Autoblog Podcast #634 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 Cars we're driving 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 diesel 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport 1964 Volkswagen Beetle 2021 Kia K5 Geneva Motor Show cancelled Maserati engine Extended Reality with the Mustang Mach-E Spend your money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

New safety and connected features help distinguish VW's lineup

Volkswagen may have wrested the title of world's largest carmaker away from Toyota this week, but the company still has some work to do in the United States. Despite its worldwide dominance, Volkswagen's American sales have languished. Unlike its red-hot Audi brand, mainstream Volkswagen sales have been afflicted by an assortment of maladies. An aging lineup, a reputation for mechanical gremlins and a lack of a competitive crossover vehicle have all hurt. In the US, the brand's cars claim only two percent of the overall market. As we reported earlier today, Volkswagen took steps this week to upgrade some broader aspects of its weaknesses here. At its Electronics Research Laboratory in Silicon Valley, the company announced it would make several advanced safety features and connectivity options available throughout the bulk of its lineup. Features that have long been available on its premium Audi cars will spread to its more economical offerings. In one big way, they will overstep their premium siblings. Volkswagen said Apple CarPlay, Android Auto (pictured below) and MirrorLink will all be available on a revamped infotainment system. Cars equipped with the new Car-Net-branded systems are arriving in showrooms now. Only last month, Hyundai became the first to offer CarPlay, debuting the smartphone-projection system in its 2015 Sonata. Chevy, Honda, and now Volkswagen, have quickly followed suit. On the safety-minded side, features like adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking, park steering assist and automatic post-collision braking will be optional equipment on most of the brand's 2016 model-year cars. Previously, the features had only been available on the Touareg SUV. They're now available on most Golf variants, the CC, Jetta, Sportwagen and some Beetles. Though the Passat sedan is one of the company's most competitive cars, it was curiously absent from the announcements, though an update could come later this year. While the advanced safety equipment is a boon for motorists increasingly interested in the technology, Volkswagen also added some basic safety tech that's long been available in mainstream competitors' cars, adding features like blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warning. One of the big differences consumers might note is the cost of the driver-assistance systems.