2009 Volkswagen Passat Komfort on 2040-cars

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For emissions control suppliers, VW diesel scandal is good news

In the "making Lemonade out of lemons" department, European makers of emissions control and catalytic systems are seeing their stock prices rise in the wake of Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal, Reuters says. Investment bankers and money managers are touting companies such as Johnson Matthey, Faurecia, Umicore and ElringKlinger. Shares of some of those companies jumped more than 25 percent since the scandal broke last month. Despite the scandal, demand for diesel-powered vehicles is expected to continue in Europe because of the powertrain's superior fuel economy. Additionally, a new version of nitrogen-oxide testing is slated to start in 2016, while prices for platinum, which is required for catalytic systems, have dropped. All of this put together is helping to make the emissions control companies more valuable. However much they may benefit, though, VW and other diesel-vehicle makers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW may continue to suffer. That's because governments around the world are calling for heightened diesel-emissions testing procedures that better simulate real-world driving conditions. And according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), that alone could cause costs associated with making diesel vehicles to spike and negate the fuel-economy advantages that drive demand in the first place. Regulators in VW's home country of Germany have demanded a recall of 2.4 million vehicles whose software has been programmed to under report emissions level. Such "cheating" software has been installed in as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide. VW, whose CEO resigned last month because of the scandal, has set aside $7.3 billion to address the issue. Related Videos: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber Green Volkswagen Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal

Porsche 911 Carrera 4, Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and a chat with Jean Jennings | Autoblog Podcast #626

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer, Associate Editor Byron Hurd and special guest Jean Jennings. The gang kicks off with a discussion about the cars they've been driving — 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and the 2020 VW Tiguan. They shift gears to talk about the latest news gleaned from a press conference concerning the 2021 Supra, then, they reach into the mailbag to help a listener buy a performance car. Lastly, Greg has a chat with special guest Jean Jennings. Autoblog Podcast #626 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line 2021 Toyota Supra news Spend My Money Jean Jennings interview Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

VW consumer site finally gets configurator tool back

The traditional vehicle configurator is back on the Volkswagen US consumer website, and it works very well. The company now lets visitors create a virtual model to their own specs and then search for a match among dealer inventories, as is the norm from most automakers. Last summer, Volkswagen tried to break the mold with its thoroughly redesigned consumer website in the US. It sported a slick design but made the highly controversial change of removing the configurator. Instead, visitors were narrowing their selection from a searchable database of models already at dealers. While the streamlined approach immediately told users if their desired car was available, the system also largely hid the prices for options and packages. The newly tweaked design retains the previous tablet-oriented layout, but after clicking a model, the site immediately offers "Build Yours." From there, visitors select a trim, and then the vehicle pops up with options to choose things like colors and packages. The whole layout is clean, features large buttons and works quickly. At the summary page, there's still the opportunity to search for the user's choice in dealer inventories. This is definitely a major improvement.