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VW CEO Winterkorn issues video apology for diesel scandal

Amid rumors that he might step down from the automaker, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has issued a video statement publicly apologizing for the company's diesel emissions scandal. The boss claims that he doesn't have the answers to all of the questions yet but promises a thorough investigation to makes things right. Multiple times in the speech, he asks forgiveness from customers all over the world and asks people not to blame all of the company's 600,000 employees for this lapse. At no point does Winterkorn mention resigning, though. You can watch the whole clip above, but it's in German, so turn on the subtitles. However, Winterkorn's future with VW isn't assured, and works council boss Bernd Osterloh appears ready to make some changes. "I can assure you that we will do everything possible in the supervisory board meetings this week to ensure the matter is cleared up quickly and that personnel consequences are drawn. And that will not just affect the rank and file, I can assure you," he said in a letter to Bild, according to Reuters. Earlier today, the automaker admitted that the same engine management software is in vehicles from other VW group brands, but it claims that the Type EA 189 engine is the only one with a deviation between test results and real-world numbers. That mill is installed in 11 million vehicles across the globe. As a start, VW is earmarking 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion at current rates) to service them. The actual costs could go much higher, though.

Audi's Project Artemis woes could delay range of VW Group EVs

Two years ago, Audi's then new CEO Markus Duesmann announced his first big initiative called Project Artemis. The plan's marquee component is "to implement a new lighthouse project for Audi in record time," being "a highly efficient electric car scheduled to be on the road as early as 2024" on a brand new platform that would be shared with Porsche and Bentley. An ex-VW and -Porsche man named Alex Hitzinger, who'd also spent time at Apple working on the tech company's electric car, was brought on board to lead Project Artemis and come up with new ideas. Parent Volkswagen Group said it wanted to become "as agile as in a racing team," removing the bureaucratic molasses and bottlenecks interfering with getting the best product on the road in the best time. However, in any grand venture, failure comes before success. Automobilwoche reports that Artemis is struggling through issues large enough to push the product plans back by years. The issue, as it was with the ID.3 lineup on the eve of that car's launch, is software. Well, that's the latest, largest problem; Artemis has already been through copious struggles before getting to the software bit. Two months after Hitzinger came on, in December 2020, VW raised its EV volume target from 50% to 70% by 2030. That necessitated a rethink of the VW Group's entire platform strategy considering the far greater production scale. Hitzinger only lasted six months in the job, ousted in May 2021, supposedly because Audi believed his ideas were "not suitable for profitable series production" among other reasons. By that time, the pace of software development was already said to be six months behind schedule, with the Car.Software division working on VW.OS 2.0 "not yet running at the speed hoped for." Internal frictions were noteworthy and costly as well. VW's commercial division plant in Hanover was meant to build Artemis vehicles for Audi, Porsche and Bentley, but Automobilwoche reported in January of this year that Porsche paid a ""small three-digit million amount" — like $100 million or so — to get out of the deal mandating its vehicles come from the Hanover facility.    So Audi effectively brought Artemis in-house to lead vehicle development, and Car.Software turned into Cariad to get VW.OS and VW.AC, which stands for Automotive Cloud, to market.  The first Audi vehicle under Project Artemis was planned to arrive by the end of 2024, a production version of the Grandsphere concept.

2015 VW e-Golf coming to ZEV states for $35,445* this November

Is $6,465 too much to get someone thinking about buying a Nissan Leaf to opt for the Volkswagen e-Golf instead? That's the price difference between the current EV sales champion, which now starts at $28,980, and the just-announced price for the e-Golf, which will sell for $35,445 in the US when it arrives in about ten states (basically, the ZEV states that follow California's lead in zero-emission vehicle rules) this November and will qualify for the federal tax credit of up to $7,500. VW says that the extra money will get you "the most versatile electric vehicle in its class." There is only one trim line, the SEL Premium, which will be the first VW in the US with all-LED headlights. The car's powertrain numbers pretty much match the Nissan Leaf, though. The e-Golf has a 24.2-kWh lithium-ion battery (the Leaf has a 24-kWh pack) and a 115-hp, 199-pound foot electric motor (107 hp,187 lb-ft in the Leaf). The e-Golf's official EPA numbers are not yet available, but VW says it will have an "average range between 70 and 90 miles." The Leaf has an official EPA range of 84 miles. The e-Golf has a better onboard charger – 7.2 kW vs. 3.6 or 6.6, depending on your Leaf's options – and has SAE Combo fast charging capability as standard. VW is also working with 3Degrees to offset all of the emissions "created from production, distribution and charging of the e-Golf for up to approximately 36,000 miles of driving." VW also announced prices for its lightly facelifted 2015 Jetta today. The base model, the 2.0-liter S with a manual transmission, starts at $17,325 while the top-of-the-line model, the Hybrid SEL Premium, will set you back at least $31,670. The lowest-cost TDI is the S manual, which starts at $21,640 and features VW's new 2.0-liter diesel four. A new limited-edition 1.8 Sport model with a firmer suspension, tinted taillamps and rear spoiler starts at $20,895. All VW prices listed exclude VW's *$820 destination charge and you can find all the details on trim lines in the press releases below.