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Pope meets with family who drove 13,000 miles to see him

Pope Francis met Sunday with a family who made a 13,000-mile trip over 194 days from Argentina to Philadelphia in an old Volkswagen van. Francis spent time with fellow Argentinians Catire Walker and Noel Zemborain and their four children, talking about their visit and praying. Zemborain told the Associated Press that Francis told her that they were crazy to drive so far with their children. She said it was like meeting an old friend and Francis hugged the children. "We couldn't believe it. They called us this morning (and) we were like in shock," she said after Sunday night's Mass. "It is like being with an old friend. He was so warm. He told us we were crazy. He made jokes. "The children got to hug him a lot. They couldn't leave him. Not at all protocol, not at all formal, it was like being with a friend." Walker and Zemborain quit their jobs in food service and marketing to lead their children on the unforgettable tour of the Americas, using savings and soliciting donations to fund the trip to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Along the way they made 12 border crossings and stayed with dozens of host families, did lots of sightseeing and documented the trip online. They schooled their children — Cala, 12; Dimas, 8; Mia, 5; and Carmin, 3 — with the help of a distance learning program. The family said they got a call at 6 a.m. Sunday that Francis wanted to meet with them at the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he stayed this weekend. Francis told the family he had been following their trip, they wrote in a Facebook post. Zemborain, Walker and the kids plan to continue traveling until November, when they will fly home from Miami. They were going to send the van by ship, but then a relative volunteered to drive it back to Buenos Aires from Florida. Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday that drew hundreds of thousands to downtown Philadelphia. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More German automakers may be afoul of US emission standards

Volkswagen has plenty of smoke to share, and that may mean fire for other German automakers that make diesel vehicles, says Automotive News. Earlier this month, European Federation for Transport and Environment said that BMW, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and General Motor's Opel division are among other automakers that may have equipped their vehicles' diesel engines with similar software as VW's. That software was found to reduce emissions while a car is being tested for emissions and shuts down emissions-control systems during normal use. The European environmental group used data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. Automotive News notes that the European environmental group put out its own report earlier this month, before the VW scandal broke loose, but the report was pretty much overlooked. Now, VW is under fire after it was discovered that 2.0-liter diesel engines in the VW Jetta and Golf, and Audi A3, may be programmed to game the emissions system. VW sold almost a half-million diesel vehicles in the US during the past six years. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz told Automotive News that the issue that befell VW doesn't apply to their diesel vehicles. Earlier this week, Volkswagen admitted its car ran the sneaky software, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started a probe on the company. VW is setting aside more than $7 billion to pay for the alleged violations. Meanwhile, US taxpayers may have spent as much as $51 million a year to pay for subsidies related to VW's diesel vehicle sales in 2009 alone, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Volkswagen Group's Vision 2030 strategy could bring revolution to the brands

One would expect a corporate plan called "Vision 2030," looking 11 years ahead through wildly tumultuous times, to involve great change and numerous forks in numerous roads. According to Automobile's breakdown of Volkswagen's path forward, though, the plans contain some lurid potential surprises. The ultimate aim is return on investment, and that means ruthless reorganization of a conglomerate with eight primary car brands, two car sub-brands, and Ducati motorcycles. The first two Vision 2030 cornerstones Automobile mentions are near boilerplate: Production network restructuring, and "streamlining of key technologies." The latter two are the ones that could upend what we know as the Volkswagen Group: focusing on the Group's core brands — meaning Audi, Porsche, and VW — and transitioning to EVs, autonomy, and other mobility solutions. Based on the report, a quote from Audi's CTO referring to the Audi brand could cover how the Group plans to handle all of its brands: "We need to find a sustainable solution for the indefinite transition period until EVs eventually take over." The boutique divisions adjacent to carmaking, Ducati and Italdesign, look likely to be spun off. For the halo car brands — Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini — apparently shareholders want double-digit returns on investment, and the trio doesn't have long to hit the target. One eyebrow raiser is when the report states, "Bugatti is tipped to be gifted to [ex-VW Group Chairman] Ferdinand Piech." Piech fathered the Veyron during his tenure at VW, and it was thought he commissioned the La Voiture Noire, but he's lately stepped so far back from VW that he sold all his shares in the Group. Automobile quoted a senior strategist as saying of money-losing Bentley, "Why invest on a backward-looking enterprise when you can support a trendsetter? A proud history and excellent craftmanship alone don't cut it anymore." We guess no one at Ferrari, McLaren, or even Porsche got that memo. Bentley is reportedly close to being put in time out, and if brand CEO Adrian Hallmark can't right the Crewe ship, the hush-hush Plan B is to prop the Flying B up enough to lure a buyer. As for Lamborghini, caught between two masters at Audi and Porsche, even record-breaking numbers at the Italian supercar maker barely staved off sacrilege. It's said that VW brand CEO Herbert Diess considered putting a 5.0-liter Porsche V8 into the Aventador successor.