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Autoblog Minute: VW financial woes continue, Tesla Model X dazzles

Volkswagen sees its financial woes continue, and Tesla reveals the all electric Model X crossover. Autoblog's Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Update: The post has been updated to show the complete range of estimated MPGe specs for the Model X P90D and not just the 92 combined MPGe. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Volkswagen sees its financial woes continue, and Tesla reveals its all electric Model X crossover. I'm Senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Volkswagen has been removed from the DOW Jones Sustainability Index, or DJSI. A decision that takes effect on October 8th. Removal from this key index is yet another black eye for the embattled automaker and it [00:00:30] indicates VW's fall as a company leads the way in economic, environmental and social performance. Ever since the emissions scandal broke the world's top selling automaker's stock has struggled. Reports estimate VW's losses to be a staggering 30.8 billion dollars. Tesla rolled out the Model X this week. A live web-stream showed us what to expect. Like, how the Falcon Wing doors adapt to tight parking spots and low garages. Towing capacity [00:01:00] was also demonstrated. The CUV is said to be able to haul 5,000 pounds, while carrying 7 passengers and luggage. Still, there was no mention of how towing would affect battery life or the range of the all electric crossover. The Model X also boasts a giant air filtration system with a "Bioweapon Defense Mode," a feature that is said to protect passengers against bacteria, harmful gasses and as Elon Musk joked, possible apocalyptic events. [00:01:30] Stay tuned. According to early EPA estimates, the Model X 90D has a range of 257 miles with 90 MPGe city, 94 highway and 92 combined MPGe. Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to check out my full weekly recap this Saturday. Plus I'll have some added insight into Mazda's new sports car. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore. Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals. Tesla Volkswagen Crossover Diesel Vehicles Electric Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video vw diesel scandal

Recharge Wrap-up: VW CEO mulls battery factory, voters approve $201B in transportation funding

Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Muller says that it would "make sense" for the automaker to begin producing its own batteries. As the company moves toward electrification, Muller says it would be a smart move to build a battery factory. "If more than a quarter of our cars are to be electronic vehicles in the foreseeable future then we are going to need approximately 3 million batteries a year," he says. Volkswagen has agreed to cut 30,000 jobs in its restructuring, while committing to creating 9,000 jobs in Germany through battery manufacturing and mobility services. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Election results show a desire for transportation funding. Earlier this month, voters in 22 states approved ballot measures adding up to $201 billion in funding for transportation projects, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. California passed 15 transportation measures, including one in Los Angeles worth $120 billion for roads, bridges, and transit. The state of Washington secured $54 billion for light rail and buses. Atlanta approved about $4 billion for road and transit projects. Illinois and New Jersey passed measures to prevent the diversion of transportation user fee revenue to other industries. Read more from ITS International. The US Department of Energy (DOE) must hand over confidential documents about Fisker's bankruptcy. A Delaware federal judge ordered the DOE to give the documents – which concern a presentation by Fisker to the DOE in which it falsely claimed to meet milestones set forth in a government loan – to lawyers in a case in which investors claim Fisker lied to them about financial troubles. While the DOE has given over documents already, they were incomplete and heavily redacted. "I understand that such disclosures may have a negative impact on future DOE analyses," says US District Judge Sue Robinson. "but conclude nonetheless that under the circumstances at bar – the public money at stake, the Congressional hearings, and the fact that Fisker Automotive is now a defunct company – the balance of interests favors plaintiffs." Read more at Law360. Related Gallery Volkswagen I.D.

Winterkorn receives support of VW board, leadership battle continues

Strange things have been happening - in public, that is - at Volkswagen over the past few weeks, kicked off when VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piech reportedly said he didn't want Group CEO Martin Winterkorn to be the next company chairman, and that he was keeping Winterkorn "at a distance." Winterkorn's ascension was widely believed to be a fait accompli. We were really just waiting for office furniture and desk plaques to be moved around. That led to a meeting of the six-member supervisory board's leadership committee in Piech's office in Salzburg, Austria, not at Group HQ in Wolfsburg, Germany, where the five other members of the committee came out in support of Winterkorn. They also suggested they might extend his contract when it ends in 2016, and then gave Piech an ultimatum to agree to public support of the CEO or they would demand Piech's resignation. At the same time, the company's labor reps and the German state of Lower Saxony issued statements supporting Winterkorn. It's said that the chairman has a number of gripes with the CEO, prime among them being the state of the company's US business for the core Volkswagen brand. Market share has dropped to two percent in the United States and Winterkorn admitted that his team hasn't been properly engaged with our market. Years of effort put into a budget car haven't resulted in much except the company saying it finally knew how to do one, and that was a year ago. It's losing share in Brazil, overall profit margins are down, BMW is taking possession of the green-car credentials among German brands, and it's said that Piech doesn't believe Winterkorn has the vision to do what's necessary. Having agreed to play along and now in "diplomacy phase," some say a little light has gone out of Piech's star inside the company, while others wonder if this battle is truly over. Related Video: News Source: Automotove News - sub. req.Image Credit: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Volkswagen martin winterkorn volkswagen group