1965 Volkswagen Beetle Base 1.2l on 2040-cars

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Chief designer Walter de Silva out at Volkswagen

After decades of penning beautiful machines, Volkswagen Group design boss Walter de Silva will retire at the end of November but will still hold an advisory role. He has led the styling for the automotive giant's brands since 2007. The company's statement didn't announce a successor for him. De Silva began his design career at Fiat in 1972 and led styling at Alfa Romeo from 1986 to 1998. He first joined VW Group with Seat but made a big splash at Audi in 2002. His work there included the sixth-generation A6, A5, and the fantastic R8. Later, he created a great take on the classic Leica M9 camera, too. VW praised de Silva's creation of a design culture that spanned its division but still allowed for creativity within each one. "Walter de Silva epitomizes creativity and the Italian sense of beauty and style on the one hand and thoroughness, a systematic approach and discipline on the other," CEO Matthias Muller said in the announcement. De Silva's retirement could bring a major change in the way VW Group organizes its studios, according to Automotive News. The automaker reportedly wants to cut its annual styling budget and might not seek a replacement for him. Walter Maria de Silva takes retirement Head of Group Design established common design culture across all brands while retaining creative autonomy of each individual brand Walter Maria de Silva Walter Maria de Silva Walter Maria de Silva (64), Head of Group Design, is retiring with effect from the end of November. De Silva assumed design responsibility for all passenger car brands within the Volkswagen Group in February 2007. Walter de Silva will continue his links with the Group in an advisory capacity. Walter Maria de Silva was born in Lecco (Italy) on February 27, 1951 and joined the Volkswagen Group 17 years ago when he became Head of the SEAT Design Centre in 1998. He was put in charge of the design of the Audi brand group, including the brands Audi, Lamborghini and SEAT, in 2002. His new design language with Audi was epitomised by the 6th generation of the Audi A6 and Audi A5 Coupe. He was appointed Head of Group Design at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft in 2007. Walter de Silva saw the main focus of his work as design chief in establishing and nurturing a common design culture across all brands, which nevertheless allows each brand to retain a high degree of creative autonomy.

Brand new cars are being sold with defective Takata airbags

If you just bought a 2016 Audi TT, 2017 Audi R8, 2016–17 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or 2016 Volkswagen CC, we have some unsettling news for you. A report provided to a US Senate committee that oversees the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reported on by Automotive News claims these vehicles were sold with defective Takata airbags. And it gets worse. Toyota and FCA are called out in the report for continuing to build vehicles that will need to be recalled down the line for the same issue. That's not all. The report also states that of the airbags that have been replaced already in the Takata recall campaign, 2.1 million will need to eventually be replaced again. They don't have the drying agent that prevents the degradation of the ammonium nitrate, which can lead to explosions that can destroy the airbag housing and propel metal fragments at occupants. So these airbags are out there already. We're not done yet. There's also a stockpile of about 580,000 airbags waiting to be installed in cars coming in to have their defective airbags replaced. These 580k airbags also don't have the drying agent. They'll need to be replaced down the road, too. A new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time. If all this has you spinning around in a frustrated, agitated mess, there's a silver lining that is better than it sounds. So take a breath, run your fingers through your hair, and read on. Our best evidence right now demonstrates that defective Takata airbags – those without the drying agent that prevents humidity from degrading the ammonium nitrate propellant – aren't dangerous yet. It takes a long period of time combined with high humidity for them to reach the point where they can rupture their housing and cause serious injury. It's a matter of years, not days. So a new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time – and six years seems to be about as early as the degradation happens in the worst possible scenario. All this is small comfort for the millions of people who just realized their brand-new car has a time bomb installed in the wheel or dashboard, or the owners who waited patiently to have their airbags replaced only to discover that the new airbag is probably defective in the same way (although newer and safer!) as the old one.

Will a Phaeton EV rise from the VW Dieselgate ashes?

The Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal isn't even close to ending, but in a new announcement the automaker says it is working to rehabilitate its battered image a little bit. In a series of pledges, the German company is putting a serious emphasis on future electrification. Headlining this EV onslaught: the next-gen Phaeton will be fully battery powered. VW is still very light on details about its future flagship, and Tesla shouldn't be shaking in its boots yet. The automaker simply promises "a pure electric drive with long-distance capability, connectivity and next-generation assistance systems as well as an emotional design." According to insiders speaking to Autocar, the Phaeton potentially launches in 2020, and it might share a platform and powertrain with the production version of the Audi E-Tron Quattro concept. A new Phaeton was rumored to be nearly ready earlier this year, but the project was reportedly scrapped to cut costs. VW loses money making the current one, and sedan competes against other products, like the Audi A8. Perhaps the company sees this scandal as a perfect opportunity to revaluate the point of the vehicle. While the Phaeton EV will represent the top of VW's future lineup, electrification will appear further down the line, as well. The automaker will create a new platform called the MEB specifically for compact EVs. Promising ranges between 155 and 311 miles, the architecture will be offered across the VW Group brands and on "both passenger cars and light commercial vehicles." This electrification push will likely affect current models, too, thanks to further engineering of the MQB platform. VW wants the vehicles to support longer-range plug-in hybrids, mild hybrids, and EVs with 186 miles of distance. Since the architecture is already on sale, presumably these are the first vehicles to benefit from the new strategy. VOLKSWAGEN BRAND BOARD OF MANAGEMENT TAKES STRATEGIC DECISIONS Accelerated implementation of the efficiency program creates room for reorientation Streamlined processes leverage further cost-saving potential, including cuts in fixed costs Investments to be reduced by 1 billion euros per year compared with planning – combined with prioritization of projects for the future Product decisions formulated New Phaeton will be electric New Modular Electric Toolkit planned Wolfsburg,October 13, 2015 – The newly-formed Volkswagen Brand Board of Management took further strategic decisions at a special meeting. CEO Dr.