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VW previews retouched 2014 Touareg for Beijing

Volkswagen is in New York this week showing off its new Jetta and Golf TDI SportWagen concept. But in less than a week, the German automaker will be off to China for the Beijing Motor Show, where it will showcase the revised Touareg you see here.
A subtle update on the Touareg that's been on the market in its current form for four years now, the facelifted model features reworked styling front and rear, an updated interior and a host of new technologies to keep it current in the highly competitive SUV market. Among those new features are larger bi-xenon headlights, coasting function, Google Maps integration and a post-collision braking system designed to prevent a second crash.
VW will offer the new Touareg with a variety of engines around the world, but in North America it'll carry over the same six-cylinder powertrain options as the outgoing model: a 3.6-liter V6 with 280 horsepower, a 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 with 240 hp (though torque isn't listed, we'd expect around 406 pound-feet, same as last year) and a hybrid that marries a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 to an electric motor that combine to deliver 380 hp.

2014 Volkswagen Beetle GSR is black and yellow, black and yellow

Way back in 1973, Volkswagen decided it was high time to take the loveable air-cooled Bug racing. No, it wasn't painted in Herbie colors - Volkswagen called its sport-tuned machine the Beetle GSR, "Gelb Schwarzer Renner" or "Yellow Black Racer." Hence, the somewhat shocking paint scheme.
VW is bringing its sporty black and yellow Beetle back for 2014, and you can see live photos of it above. It's got a 210-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood (that'd be the hood up front, unlike the car's forebear), and a six-speed manual or DSG automatic transmission sends those ponies to the front wheels. Note that this car's output is up 10 horses on other turbo VWs, and the Jetta GLI and Beetle Turbo for 2013. The 0-60 run takes 6.6 seconds, and top speed is limited to 130 miles per hour.
Besides the in-your-face black and yellow paint, the GSR is outfitted with a large rear spoiler and 19-inch wheels shod with 235/40 tires. The bee-like hue carries over inside, with yellow stitching on black leather. Only 3,500 will be produced, each with its own unique plaque. Pricing has not yet been announced, but you're free to read through the press release below all the same.

VW joins Daimler's protest of new A/C refrigerant as EU deadline for compliance passes

The case of Dupont and Honeywell's refrigerant R-1234yf is doing the exact opposite of keeping things cool. The two chemical companies have spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing R-1234yf to replace R-134a, the new refrigerant shown to be 99.7-percent kinder to the environment than the one it is meant to succeed. Part of that development has been years of testing by governments, outside safety agencies and automakers to approve the chemical for use in cars. It passed the protocols necessary for the European Union to declare that new and significantly revised cars from 2013 onward needed to use R-1234yf, and mandated that every car as of 2017 must use it.
Enter Daimler AG. The automaker created a head-on collision test with a B-Class at their Sindelfingen test track that would lead to the pressurized refrigerant being sprayed on the engine. The result in 20 out of 20 test was that the refrigerant burst into flames as soon as it hit the hot engine, while Daimler says that R-134a does not catch fire in the same test. Another unexpected result of the R-1234yf test was the release of hydrogen flouride, a chemical far more deadly to humans than hydrogen cyanide, emitted in such amounts that it that turned the windshield white as it began to eat into the glass.
Said a Daimler engineer in a Reuters piece, "It was scarcely believable. The most complicated lab tests conducted using the most sensitive measuring instruments around found nothing and all we do is drive a car around a couple of times, open a tiny hole in the refrigerant line and the next thing you know the car is on fire." So Daimler said it wouldn't use the refrigerant, and it recalled the cars it had already shipped with R-1234yf.