V10 Diesel, Amazing Engine, Suspension, Interior, Design And Driving. on 2040-cars

Auto blog

France may still ban diesel vehicle sales

Legislators in France are not afraid to bring out the ban hammer when it comes to dirty vehicles. The city of Paris has implemented bans on old clunkers, and the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said in 2014 that diesel cars were a "mistake" and that the government would "progressively undo" the error. Now the national government has said it will not rule out banning sales of new diesel vehicles by Renault and Volkswagen if those companies don't answer more questions about their vehicles' emissions. Environment Minister Segolene Royal said last week that France wants more information about the VW diesel defeat device and Renault's engine software. "We will be asking the consumer fraud investigators and prosecutors to communicate any findings that will enable us to establish whether it's necessary to withdraw sales authorizations," Royal said. Royal has been making waves recently at the COP22 meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco and said that Donald Trump's environmental policies will be " absolutely catastrophic" and weaken the US' standing in the world. If the US doesn't want to lead on climate change efforts, she said, "China can take the place of the United States." She has also been involved in a controversy at home over votes that her staff made to allow higher emissions level from vehicles. Related Video: News Source: SpeedluxImage Credit: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Green Volkswagen Renault Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal segolene royal

Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

Volkswagen hits Gran Turismo with GTI Supersport concept [w/video]

As impressive as are the production hot hatches that Volkswagen offers based on the Golf, the German automaker cooks up even more impressive conceptual versions. Like this latest design for Gran Turismo 6. The GTI Supersport Vision Gran Turismo is like the GTI you can pick up at your local VW dealer, only more so. The design brings the VR6 back to the GTI, this time packing a (hypothetical) 503 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque, channeled to all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and 4Motion all-wheel drive. In the virtual reality of GT6, that's said to be enough to propel this digital concept to 62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds and on to a top speed in excess of 186 mph. Naturally VW's designers gave the GTI Supersport concept the show to accompany the go, gracing the shape with more vents, more extreme aero, a wider stance on 20-inch wheels... the works. All that is said to give it a lower center of gravity and a power-to-weight ratio of 5.5 pounds per horsepower. Of course the GTI Supersport isn't the first hot Golf concept VW has dreamt up in recent years. There was the earlier GTI Roadster concept also revealed for the Vision Gran Turismo series, the Golf R 400 concept that may yet see production, and the bonkers GTI W12 650 concept with its mid-mounted twelve-cylinder engine. This one may never see production, but at least gamers will be able to drive it remotely on PlayStation. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Wolfsburg, 14 April 2015 Next level: Volkswagen presents new digital supercar - GTI Supersport Vision Gran Turismo excites PlayStation fans - Race car with 503 HP now available for downloading Volkswagen is expanding its GTI fleet and sending a new supercar onto the digital race circuit. The engine roaring under the bonnet of the GTI Supersport is a 503 HP VR6 TSI coupled with a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox (DSG). The design of this digital supercar combines the Volkswagen icon with sheer racing design. Following last year's roadster, another version of the GTI, with its long racing tradition, can now head for the starting line on Gran Turismo®6, exclusively on PlayStation®3. The first impression of this racer already shows that the Supersport is what fans want and is designed for racing. 665 Nm of torque catapult the virtual GTI to 100 kilometers per hour from a standing start in only 3.6 seconds.