2007 Volkswagen Jetta Wolfsburg Edition Sedan 4-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Seat Leon Sport Cross concept leaks before Frankfurt debut

Seat's big Frankfurt Motor Show debut has been teased/leaked ahead of its official debut. The teasers are, of course, directly from Seat and show the new Leon Cross Sport Concept in a pair of sketches. You can check those out below. The leaked stuff, available up top, is far juicier, though. The shots originally came from AutoForum.cz, Auto Express reports, and look to be stock images of the three-door hatchback. In short, it looks like a Seat Leon, which is to say the MQB-based Spaniard is a more attractive Volkswagen Golf. In concept form, though, this new Leon is something of an anomaly. It wears the steroidal sheetmetal of the high-performance Cupra, especially with the large wheels and prominent quad exhausts, but its boosted ride gives it much more of a soft-roader character. Think of this, then, as a high-riding Golf GTI. It'll be a lot more potent than the beloved hot hatch, though. According to Auto Express, the Leon Cross Sport will use the Golf R's 296-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine and Haldex all-wheel-drive system. That should mean that there'll be some very real off-road performance behind the soft-roader looks. We'll have much more on the Cross Sport Concept when it makes its debut at Volkswagen's huge Group Night event later today. Stay tuned.

Volkswagen bringing driver assistance systems to its 2016 lineup

Chevrolet isn't the only manufacturer rolling out luxury safety technologies on a 2016 mass-market lineup. Volkswagen has just announced that next year it will begin adding driver assistance systems to its lineup here in the States – stuff that was previously only available on Audi and Porsche models here, or Volkswagens in Europe. Adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, and autonomous braking will be standard on the CC V6 4Motion, optional on certain trims of the Golf and Jetta. Blind spot monitoring will be standard on the Beetle, and top CC and Jetta trims, but optional on the Golf and lower Jetta variants. Automated parking will be available on Golf models, including the e-Golf. Blind spot assistance with rear traffic alert, lane departure warning, park distance control, and an automatic post-collision braking system also come in the technology kitty, all of which will be packaged at prices between $695 and $1,495. Infotainment options take a bit step up, too, with every VW model but the Touareg being fitted with touchscreens. The new MIB II head unit comes in four sizes, the Beetle, Jetta, and Tiguan getting the smallest, five-inch screen as standard but upgradeable to a 6.5-inch screen. Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and MirrorLink are integrated into that larger screen. The interface is improved by a faster processor, higher resolution, and better graphics, and some will come with swiping and pinch-to-zoom functionality. The two press releases below lay it all out in detail. VOLKSWAGEN DEMOCRATIZES HIGH-END DRIVER ASSISTANCE FEATURES FOR THE 2016 MODEL YEAR Many models in the 2016 Volkswagen lineup offer new driver assistance systems that used to be the sole preserve of premium and luxury vehicles Herndon, VA Jul 29, 2015 — For the 2016 model year, Volkswagen is offering a host of driver assistance features that were only previously available on the premium Touareg SUV—and adding some new ones that truly democratize driver assistance for the compact sedan and compact hatchback classes. These available features include: Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Braking (Front Assist); Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC); the Parking Steering Assistant (Park Assist); and an active Lane Departure Warning (Lane Assist) system. The Beetle, CC, e-Golf, Golf, Golf GTI, Golf R, Golf SportWagen, and Jetta offer these available features, depending on model and trim line.

Workers at Mississippi auto supplier protesting low wages

Workers at an automotive seat factory in Mississippi are protesting what they say are low wages and poor working conditions as they attempt to unionize in what could become a new front for the United Auto Workers in the state. A group of workers and supporters at the Faurecia SA seating plant in Cleveland plans a Tuesday march. "We work an auto job and we're getting paid like Wal-Mart wages," said Jamarqus Reed, a 32-year-old Pace resident who has worked at the plant for almost 10 years. "We're trying to better ourselves." Nationally, the UAW has staked its future on unionizing Southern auto factories, with limited success so far. The union has been trying to organize Nissan Motor Co.'s Canton, MS, plant for years, and lost a 2008 worker vote at a Johnson Controls plant in nearby Madison that French-based Faurecia bought in 2011. The UAW narrowly lost a unionization vote at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, TN, last year, but the union has since qualified for a new labor policy at the plant that grants access to meeting space and to regular discussions with management. The policy stops short of collective bargaining rights. The union is also trying to organize Nissan's assembly plant in Smyrna, TN, and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, AL. Protesters say Faurecia employees make a top wage of $11.64 per hour, while contract workers make $7.73 an hour. Company spokesman Tony Sapienza said that with overtime, the typical Faurecia employee makes more than the $27,000 a year that is the median wage around Cleveland. Wages are often low in the heavily impoverished Delta. "We are very confident that we are offering a very competitive wage," Sapienza said. Organizers criticize use of lower-paid contract workers Shannon Greenidge, a 44-year-old Cleveland resident, said she worked for a labor agency for more than two years before being hired directly by Faurecia. Greenidge said she makes $9.29 an hour, and can't save for retirement or to send her 11-year-old daughter to college. "That's not going to help me down the line in life," she said. Union supporters say as many as half the workers at the plant work for a contract-labor agency. Sapienza said that while the number varies, the company expects 15 percent of its workforce will be temporary employees this year. The UAW has organized some Southern auto parts plants in recent years, including Faurecia plants in Cottondale, Alabama, in 2012 and Louisville, Kentucky in 2013.