1965 Volkswagen Bus on 2040-cars

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Volkswagen is not cool with a Fiat Chrysler merger

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller shot down Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's overtures for a merger in blunt fashion this week. Mueller told Reuters at the Geneva Motor Show, "We are not ready for talks about anything ... we have other problems. I haven't seen Marchionne for months." The unusually candid – and icy – response from one chief executive to another comes after Marchionne similarly pursued General Motors (again) this week. The FCA boss suggested GM might be looking for a new European partner as it prepares to unload its troubled Opel and Vauxhall divisions to PSA. A GM spokesman told USA Today that the company is not interested. Marchionne has been openly suggesting a GM merger since at least 2015, despite GM never reciprocating interest. VW's "other problems," as Mueller notes, include legal proceedings, fines, recalls, and other issues related to its long-running diesel scandal. Marchionne has long sought industry consolidation, arguing that automakers don't get a proper return on their investments in technologies, some of which are relatively similar. He's suggested sharing chassis and powertrain components could be a benefit to the collective auto sector. Skeptics argue FCA, which is smaller than GM, VW, Toyota, and others, needs a partner to survive, while its rivals already have the necessary scale to remain competitive. Related Video:

VW air rule violation allegations 'stunning,' $18B fine unlikely

The big automotive news today was the US federal allegations that VW quietly and illegally installed software on approximately 482,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States so that they would not return substandard results on government emissions tests. To say the least, this is potentially a very big deal. You can read the details of the government's allegations here. The problem seems to be with the NOx trap. Sam Abuelsamid, a former AutoblogGreen editor who is now a senior research analyst at Navigant Research's Transportation Efficiencies program, told me that there were some hints that VW's diesel emissions strategy had issues a while back. The vehicles affected by today's announcement are all equipped with the 2-liter, 4-cylinder TDI, he said. They all have the lean NOx (nitrogen oxides) trap, whereas all other current modern diesels use urea to treat NOx emissions. "When VW launched those vehicles, I went to the TDI launch program in Santa Monica and asked them if they were going to put the diesel engine into the Tiguan because that would be an ideal application," he said. "They said no, because it would be too heavy. Turns out, the NOx trap was enough to meet the emissions standards in the smaller cars, but not the Tiguan. That seems to be where the problem is, in the NOx trap. All the other big VW and Audi diesels, they use urea, just like BMW and Mercedes do." Abuelsamid added that, in California, to do an emissions test, testers don't stick a probe up the exhaust, as you would suspect. Instead, they just do a visual test to make sure nothing was tampered with and then plug a scanner into the OBD-II port to read the codes. The news today basically says that the cars were programmed to send out false codes, giving readings that testers are looking for instead of what's actually going on. "That's the background, as far as I know at this point," he said. This could be "a black eye on the auto industry." - John O'Dell Speaking at the AltCar Expo in Santa Monica just hours after the news first broke this morning, Edmunds.com's John O'Dell said the Fed's allegations were "stunning." The idea that VW might have gamed the system, he said, "underscores how important EPA clean air numbers are, that a company would allegedly stoop to this to try and meet them. Obviously, people are paying attention to that sort of thing.

VW Beetle R is one mean bug

Volkswagen's R lineup currently consists of the Golf R in North America, and the too-cool-for-school Scirocco R in Europe. It hasn't exactly been a secret as to which VW would next get the R treatment; the German manufacturer reportedly confirmed that a hotter Beetle would be coming to the US. That announcement, in August 2011, was followed up by a production-ready Beetle R Concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.
After some wait, we're finally seeing spy shots of the Beetle R in Germany. The mule shown in the images here is wearing the R-Line bodykit, which adds sportier front and rear fascias, side skirts, dual exhausts and a not-so-subtle spoiler. Topped off with Volkswagen's traditional, five-spoke R wheels, we'd be just fine with the Beetle R coming to market as is.
Our spy photographer, though, seems to think that the production R will get even sportier sheetmetal, which we take to mean the more assertive look shown on the Frankfurt show car. Larger intakes on the front fascia, a bigger rear spoiler and vertical vents on the rear bumper could all be upcoming. Whether a production model will include the concept's polished wheels (R cars haven't traditionally embraced that look), vented hood and the quad-tipped exhausts remains to be seen.