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2015 Volkswagen Golf R [w/video]

Volkswagen hired a photographer to come shoot the handful of journalists that it brought to drive the 2015 Golf R at Buttonwillow Raceway north of Los Angeles. This fact, though unremarkable in and of itself, was something I hadn't noticed until I was well into my track time – probably ten laps deep on a day that would see me run twice that number. In any event, I noticed the intrepid shooter as he was sprinting from one side of the track to the other somewhere before Turn 2, while I was barreling down the main straightaway, still looking through Turn 1. In the roughly two-mile configuration of the track that I drove, Buttonwillow is a big, wide-open circuit, largely flat and with excellent overall visibility. On that layout, and just hours into my Golf R experience, I'd already become confident in endeavoring to push the limits of VW's latest blistering hatch. In fact, the easy nature of driving the thing quickly had me overestimating my pace. So when I saw the photog sprint across the tarmac I instinctively slowed way too much, way too early for Turn 1. Looking back at the incident after I'd pitted for the session, I laughed at myself, knowing I'd have had to be driving almost double my actual speed to put the camera guy in any real danger of being hit. But the experience crystallized what my full test of the R bore out: this is a car that makes you feel much faster than you otherwise would, at least in a competition setting. The 2015 Golf R is an uber hatch that will flatter those hyper-enthusiasts passionate enough to splash out on its steep price tag, but without threatening sales of core models like the GTI and its ilk. That's a good thing for the VW fanboys, to be sure, and, I'd argue, a great thing for the strength of the German brand overall. {C} The R felt both placid and comfortable while I clicked off highway miles in search of the racetrack. My test in California had at least two things in common with the First Drive feature that Steve Ewing brought us with the Golf R in Sweden. First, we both drove European specification cars (though mine didn't suffer from the same sticker abuse that Steve's did). Second, we were both somewhat limited in terms of driving the car in varied, real-world situations. My street route consisted almost entirely of tracking California's I-5 north out of Los Angeles; which any Angelino will tell you is a less-than-riveting mode of travel.

Volkswagen reportedly considering selling Ducati

After shelving numerous motorsport programs and putting less-successful model variants on the firing line, Volkswagen is reportedly considering selling off Ducati, its motorcycle division. Ducati joined the Volkswagen Group under Audi in 2012, and it could be valued as high as 1.5 billion euros. Five years ago, Audi paid roughly $935 million for the motorcycle brand, sources said to Reuters. In 2016, Ducati's sales were worth 593 million euros, or nearly $644 million. There isn't a concrete buyer yet set for the deal, and neither Volkswagen or Audi chose to comment on the matter. Neither did Evercore, the investment banking advisory firm selected to evaluate Volkswagen's options on Ducati ownership. The logic behind jettisoning Ducati is likely to be the same as canceling Audi's LeMans program and VW's WRC racing efforts: Volkswagen is focusing on an electric mobility future, as the shadow of Dieselgate stretches far into the coming years. As Reuters says, the original 2012 Ducati deal may have been a Ferdinand Piech vanity project: "Analysts questioned Audi's purchase of Ducati when it was announced in April 2012, saying the deal had no economic or industrial logic and just reflected former VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech's passion for the Italian company's expertise on design and light engines." Piech is now, however, out at Volkswagen and is also selling a major part of his Porsche stock, making it easier for Volkswagen to ditch the Italian bike brand. Reuters' sources mentioned interested parties as being Chinese or Indian, or interestingly, the consortium led by Prodrive's David Richards which acquired Aston Martin a decade ago. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: AOL/Drew Phillips Audi Volkswagen Motorcycle Ducati volkswagen group

Porsche-Piech buy 10% stake in VW's holding company

In August, 2009, as the scuttled merger of Porsche and Volkswagen had gone bad and Porsche was backed up against the ropes, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAHSE) relinquished a ten-percent stake in itself to Qatar Holdings as well as options it held on 17 percent of VW shares. The sale meant that, for the first time since the founding of the company 61 years before, an entity outside the Porsche and Piech families had a say in the running of PAHSE.
Buying that ten-percent stake back returns full ownership to the two families, the holding company's sole possession being ownership of 50.7 percent of VW's common shares. The price paid wasn't disclosed, but at market rates the purchase would be worth close to $1.25 billion. Qatar intends to hold onto the 17-percent stake it has in Volkswagen.