1966 Vw Westfalia So-42 Walk-thru on 2040-cars

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The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.

Daily Driver: 2015 Volkswagen CC

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2015 Volkswagen CC Executive, reviewed by Seyth Miersma. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Hi, guys. This is Seyth with Autoblog, and I'm driving the 2015 Volkswagen CC. The version of the car I'm in is the VR6 4motion car, so it's got a six-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive. This six-cylinder is actually a little bit of an odd duck at this point for the class. It's a 3.6 liter V6. It makes 280 horsepower, 265 pound-feet of torque. It's really living in a world that's been [00:00:30] overtaken by potent, two-liter turbos. I think something that's particularly difficult, especially in light of what I know about the Volkswagen family, the new engines getting great fuel economy. The 1.8T and obviously the TDI are real champs in that regard. Unfortunately, this VR6 is really sucking down the premium. These days, a 20 MPG combined rating is not particularly good. This definitely isn't a sports car. If you throw it hard into a corner, it leans a little bit, you can feel some roll [00:01:00] through the suspension. Handling is tidy, but it's not particularly precise. Of course, it's not really meant to be. This is a car that's meant to be great on the highway, great cruiser, look pretty stylish, and with a good powertrain, it can be exciting enough. Because you're not getting anything else that's very sports car-like about this car, other than the power delivery, and even there it's not quite on-pace with some of the sporty sedans that you can buy for right around the same money. It just makes for an interesting mix; something that's a little bit fast, [00:01:30] not very fuel-efficient, not a great handler, not a premium badge. Let's cut down right to it. This car is $44,400 and some change. Again, the VR6 4motion Executive Trim level, which means it pretty much gets everything you can get in a CC. We've got leather seats; they are heated. They have a massaging seat on the driver's side. I've got some 18-inch wheels that look pretty good. Big head unit with touch-screen and [00:02:00] navigation, satellite radio, better sound system. Just in general, the car feels very well-appointed. It feels like an entry-level luxury car.

Last VW bus ever made arrives at final destination

A Brazilian politician tried to save it, unsuccessfully, so the final Last Edition Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi was produced on December 20, 2013 and now resides in a vintage museum at Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles HQ in Hanover, Germany.
The Volkswagen Microbus was built for 56 years, starting in September 1957. Brazil was the last country still assembling it, but new safety regulations in the country requiring airbags and ABS on all cars spelled the end. When that politician introduced a bill that would pardon only the 'Bus from a death sentence, it couldn't garner the required number of votes for passage. The South American country takes the Kombi production title, though, with 1.5 million of the 3.5 million total made in the home of Copacabana beach and the girl from Ipanema.
The VW Bus is dead. Now perhaps we can turn our attentions to the still-not-totally-settled matter of the Bulli...