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VW may make Bentley a subsidiary of Audi

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen plans to make British luxury carmaker Bentley a subsidiary of its Audi division as it seeks economies of scale among its top-end brands, German trade publication Automobilwoche reported. Bentley, for now overseen by the head of VW's Porsche business, Oliver Blume, will from next year be part of Audi, where VW group Chief Executive Herbert Diess believes it has more potential, Automobilwoche cited company sources as saying. Synergies could include using Audi technology for a new Bentley SUV, it added. Volkswagen, which declined to comment on the report, is reviewing the future of its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati motorcycles as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this month that Volkswagen was working on plans to prepare Lamborghini for a stock market listing. Related Video: Audi Bentley Volkswagen

Best cheap SUVs: You don't have to pay a lot to get a lot

Here's a news flash: Everything is a lot more expensive now! And that definitely goes for new SUVs, with prices that keep nudging higher and higher. Actually "nudging" might be too soft of a description for their motion. "Skyrocketing" is probably more accurate.  While higher prices and hefty interest rates have likely knocked a lot of people out of the new car market entirely, there are still quite a few cheap SUV choices. Better still, they're not terrible! Far from it, in fact. While the lowest price SUVs used to be drab, sorry affairs best left to the lots of Avis and Budget, that is definitely not the case today. Not only are there legitimately appealing cheap SUV choices, they offer genuine differences in character, capability and design. It's not just a series of anonymous boxes with different badges. Below you won't just find a simple list of the cheapest SUVs available. We are actually pointing out the best ones. They are listed from least expensive to most expensive, with none exceeding a starting price of $30,000. Most are subcompacts, but a few of our top choices in the compact SUV segment snuck on. Finally, please excuse the crummy photo quality. We sought out representative trim levels of the prices in question rather than just reusing pretty carmaker-provided photos of the most expensive trim levels. This is what the cars will actually look like. Kia Soul Why it stands out: Ample space and abundant features for the money; unique style; strong turbo engine upgrade Could be better: All-wheel drive is not available Starting Price: $21,315 Read our most recent Kia Soul Review The Kia Soul definitely didn't start off as a small SUV, and the term "crossover" is probably better applied to it. Still, what started life as an undefinable funky tall hatchback now finds itself in its third generation with numerous vehicles of similar shape and size that are dubbed "small SUV" or "small crossover." If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ... Call it what you will, but the Soul delivers the goods with tons of equipment and space for its price and size, an agreeable driving demeanor, and an even more powerful engine upgrade than the Kona's. We also think it's pretty cool. All of the above helped it win our subcompact SUV comparison test. Now, if there's one area where the Soul does not satisfy a typical SUV requirement, it's the lack of available all-wheel drive.

German prosecutors investigating Audi for emissions scandal

After weeks of investigation into Volkswagen by prosecutors in Braunschweig, Germany, attorneys in Ingolstadt will also begin an examination into Audi's potential role in the emissions scandal. They reportedly received multiple criminal complaints that requested an inquiry, including one from Audi, according to Bloomberg. The prosecutors in Ingolstadt want to focus on people within the automaker that are responsible for emissions. However, the investigation is still too early in the process to identify any specific suspects. The German lawyers might also eventually combine their cases, but they remain separate for now. "Braunschweig took those parts that are clearly located at Volkswagen and asked us to keep the elements limited to Audi," a spokesperson for the Ingolstadt attorneys told Bloomberg. Audi has 2.1 million vehicles worldwide with Volkswagen Group's emissions-cheating four-cylinder diesel, including an estimated 13,000-14,000 of them in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency also recently filed a second violation notice against the 3.0-liter TDI V6 that was used in several of the company's models here, and the automaker responded with a stop sale for them. VW Group's carbon-dioxide emissions cheating in Europe also reportedly involves some Audi models. In that case, engineers admitted to artificially improving test results to achieve the cuts that the automaker requested.