2000 Volkswagen Passat Wagon, Standard Transmission on 2040-cars

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VW makes $23K on every Porsche sold, more than Bentley or Lamborghini

It's a good time to be in the luxury car business. In Volkswagen Group's financial report for the 2013 fiscal year, it is revealed that that Porsche enjoyed an operating margin of 18 percent. That means the Stuttgart brand made on average about $23,200 per car sold, according to BusinessWeek. Bentley wasn't far behind, and Audi (which was combined with Lamborghini) posted a 10.1 percent margin. This compares to only around 2.9 percent for the Volkswagen brand.
"Luxury brands are on fire," said Dave Sullivan, an industry analyst at AutoPacific. He said that the average profit margin is between six and eight percent. Brands like Porsche and Bentley have the benefit of competing in rarefied markets. Buyers looking at one their vehicles have fewer models to shop against and don't care as much about price. They can also charge more for options, which further boosts income, according to BusinessWeek.
In a way, we should be more impressed by the continued success from Audi. Its models generally have direct competitors in every segment from the other premium automakers. Plus, their buyers aren't the captains of industry who are shopping for a Bentley. Still, the Four Rings is leading rivals in sales so far this year.

West Virginia researcher describes how Volkswagen got caught

The cheating scandal engulfing the world's largest automaker started with a road trip. In the spring of 2014, researchers from West Virginia were evaluating the tailpipe emissions of diesel cars made for the American market by European manufacturers, something never before studied in the academic realm. Excited by the prospect of breaking new ground, the team of two professors and two students wanted to gather as much data as possible. "And being academics, we went a little overboard," said Arvind Thiruvengadam, one of the students. "Being academics, we went a little overboard." Overboard included driving the cars for more miles than they needed to test and verify results. Drivers put about 1,500 miles on each of the first two cars in the study, a Volkswagen Jetta and BMW X5, along California roadways. For their final car, a Volkswagen Passat, they wanted even more mileage. So they took the car on a road trip from Los Angeles to Seattle and back again, collecting data from more than 2,000 miles of testing. The road trip was Volkswagen's undoing. When the West Virginia team returned to Los Angeles, they were befuddled by the test results. In theory, the Passat should have spewed the lowest levels of pollutants among the three cars. Equipped with the more modern selective catalytic reduction technology, the team expected to find minimal levels of nitrogen oxide. But the car, which had been certified at a California Air Resources Board facility prior to the start of the road trip, had elevated levels of NOx that were 20 times the baseline levels established beforehand. The researchers, comprised of professors Gregory Thompson and Dan Carder and students Marc Besch and Thiruvengadam, knew their on-board equipment functioned properly because, early in their research, they had double-checked its accuracy after recording sky-high NOx readings from the Jetta that showed 30 times the level of its baseline testing at the CARB facility. It was particularly noteworthy because the Jetta contained the first-generation Lean NOx Trap technology, not the more efficient SCR, yet both produced large discrepancies. The BMW, on the other hand, performed as expected. Today, Thiruvengadam is careful to say the research team never suspected Volkswagen of cheating on emissions testing, nor did the researchers report such a finding. They merely reported their findings to CARB officials who then further investigated.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mercedes gets F1 efficiency, EV charging in Vermont, VW e-Golf to use Bosch

Efficiency equals performance, especially in the case of Formula 1 racing. The Mercedes AMC Petronas team points to several key efficiency technologies it uses to get the most out of its cars. And if their utter dominance so far this season is testament to this relationship, perhaps we should pay attention. Mercedes highlights hybrid tech, turbocharging, aerodynamics, lightweight construction, tribology (both in making internal components and lubricants more slippery) and simulation as crucial to getting around the track faster than anyone else. These just happen to be some of the same things that make the cars we drive on public roads more fuel-efficient. Learn more in the press release below. It's a good read. Brammo, maker of sweet electric motorcycles, is teaming up with TEAM Industries to make drivetrains for electric vehicles. TEAM, which specializes in drivetrain technology, will also become an investor in Brammo as part of the partnership. "The electric vehicle market is a growth market," says TEAM CEO and President David Ricke, "and TEAM and Brammo will be providing a wide range of solutions for OEM manufacturers." Read more over at EV World. Vermont celebrated the installation of a new EV charging station as part of a Green Energy Corridor between Boston and Montreal. When finished, drivers will be able to make the whole trip in an EV with access to charging along the way. For $5, customers can charge their vehicle in about 30 minutes at the Red Hen Baking Company in Middlesex. There are currently only about 700 EVs on the road in Vermont. The state has a goal to get 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, and getting more EVs on the road is crucial to that mission. Vermont hopes that expanding the charging infrastructure will convince more people to go electric. Read more at Vermont Public Radio's website. For it's new e-Golf, Volkswagen will use Bosch chargers for home installation and ChargePoint stations at its dealerships. Bosch will have various 240-volt options for the home, and will also provide installation. e-Golf customers will also get a free ChargePoint membership, and will have access to the company's network of charging stations worldwide. The 2015 e-Golf goes on sale in the US later this year. Read more in the press release below. Synergies between F1 and Road Car Development: Efficiency equals performance In Formula 1 Racing, performance is everything.