2004 Volkswagen Touareg V8 Sport Utility 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Autoblog Minute: VW 'tip of the iceberg' in diesel emissions scandal

Some are calling Volkswagen just the tip of the iceberg in the diesel emissions scandal. Autoblog's Adam Morath reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Some are calling Volkswagen just the tip of the iceberg in the diesel emissions scandal. I'm Adam Morath and this is your Autoblog Minute. Here in the U.S. the EPA found defeat devices on certain Volkswagen vehicles. Across the pond however concerned environmentalist groups including [00:00:30] Transportation & Environment say that the issues could be more widespread in Europe. Nico Muzi, a spoken for Transportation and Environment was quoted in the Automotive News as saying: "Volkswagen is just the tip of the iceberg..." Muzi goes on to claim that cheating is widespread, and that results produced from European emissions tests, which are not administered by a government agency, show differences in data that "...are so much, it can't be explained." Clean vehicle manager at Transport & Environment Greg Archer spoke to Bloomberg Business about the need to reform emissions testing in Europe: [00:01:00] [Bloomberg Video Clip] While it's clear that automakers are engineering vehicles and software to perform well on emissions tests, the real question is whether or not other OEMs, besides Volkswagen, are using defeat devices to cheat the tests, either here or in Europe. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath. Green Volkswagen Emissions Diesel Vehicles Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video vw diesel scandal

VW Up Buggy may be headed to showrooms

Volkswagen showed six conceptual takes on its Up at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, one of those being the Up Buggy. Although few will probably remember it, VW has not forgotten it, applying for a patent for the Meyers Manx revival roadster way back in March 2012 and being approved in June of this year, according to a report in Autocar. That will give the automaker a 14-year lock on the design while it decides whether to move forward with a reboot of its past.
A patent doesn't mean the Up Buggy will ever move beyond the sheet-of-paper stage, but Autocar says VW is studying the market to see if a production version is feasible. We can't see North America ever getting it, but even so, we wouldn't complain if they made it - especially if they put an exposed engine in back that was set off by 18-inch-long twin tailpipes jutting straight up into the air. However, for a company that aims to be the world's number-one automaker by 2018, a niche vehicle for its mass-market brand would be a surprising use of resources.

Volkswagen CrossBlue previews a three-row future, diesel-hybrid power [w/video]

Volkswagen looks to be getting ready to jump into the large three-row crossover game. The automaker has officially pulled back the curtain on the CrossBlue Concept at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show.
Designers and engineers penned the machine specifically for the Canadian and US markets, and with a plug-in diesel electric hybrid drivetrain, the hulking five-door, at least in concept form, should offer substantially better efficiency than anything else on the market. The drivetrain pairs a 2.0-liter turbo diesel four-cylinder engine with two electric motors for a combined output of 305 horsepower and a ludicrous 516 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed dual-clutch gearbox handles shifting detail, while one electric motor spins the front wheels. The second motor spins the back axle independently, make the CrossBlue a through-the-road hybrid.
As a result, the crossover can pop to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. Perhaps more impressively, the CrossBlue can whir around on all-electric propulsion for up to 14 miles at up to 75 mph. Once the diesel four kicks in, the drivetrain can yield up to 39 mpg, though Volkswagen says the hardware can hit 89 MPGe on a full charge thanks to a 9.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Check out the full press release below for more information.