2001 Volkswagen Jetta Gls on 2040-cars

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Investors storm Volkswagen with $9 billion in lawsuits

Volkswagen's investors are latest group to take up pitchforks against the embattled automaker, and they're seeking $9 billion in damages, Reuters reports. The investor lawsuits were filed in a court in Braunschweig, Germany, near Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters. On Monday, the first business day following the anniversary of the emissions revelations, the court received 750 lawsuits alone. All told, about 1,400 lawsuits have been filed. The largest single claim totals $3.7 billion and was filed more than six months ago. The lawsuits stem from complaints that Volkswagen didn't divulge information on the cheating software to investors quickly enough. Volkswagen has said that it hasn't broken any capital market laws. The $21.5 billion the company set aside to weather the storm may not be enough. The consumer fix is estimated to run the company $14.7 billion, either through buybacks or a fix that still seems unclear. In addition to the lawsuits, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller confirmed that Audi boss Rupert Stadler is under investigation regarding the scandal. Mueller refused to give further details, but this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Audi has admitted that its 3.0-liter V6 was equipped with the same emissions-cheating software as the 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesels. Stefan Knirsch, Audi's head of development, has been suspended as part of the overall investigation. Knirsch took over duties after his predecessor quit. Knisch was previously head of engine development at Audi. Related Video: News Source: Reuters Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Audi Volkswagen Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal

As VW electrifies, it questions the role of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen needs to change to stay relevant in the electric and digital vehicle era and will announce "important steps" to that end before the close of the year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday. "Volkswagen needs to change: From a collection of valuable brands and fascinating combustion-engine products that thrill customers with superb engineering — to a digital company that reliably operates millions of mobility devices worldwide," Diess told shareholders at the company's virtual general meeting. Vehicles need to stay in contact with customers, offer new services and comfort functions on a weekly or even daily basis, he said. "We will take further important steps to set the course for this in the rest of 2020," Diess said. Senior executives told Reuters the company is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play as the company increasingly focuses on electric, digital and autonomous vehicles. Volkswagen, which also owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, is looking at whether it has the resources to accelerate development of electric platforms for smaller brands at a time it is investing billions to transform its more mainstream cars. Asked whether Ducati, which is known for making noisy combustion-engined motorbikes, has an electric future, Markus Duesmann, who oversees research and development for the group, said: "It will not take long until we see an electric Ducati." Whether Ducati, which is a medium-sized premium motorbike brand, would offer an electric variant, depends on whether a bike could offer range comparable to a combustion-engined variant, Duesmann said. Advances are being made in battery technology which could make this possible, he added. Separately Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer, in response to a question about whether a sale of Lamborghini is planned, said Volkswagen does not comment on speculation about potential divestments. Lamborghini's Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali this week announced his departure from the sports car maker to take on a new job as president of Formula One. VW needs cash Volkswagen is reviewing the future of these three high-performance brands as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars, senior executives told Reuters.

YouTube's Super Bowl commercial buzz list dominated by automakers [w/videos]

After Sunday's big game, YouTube will be the place to watch every commercial that you missed when you left your seat for an emergency guac refill or, as we say in Cleveland, took the Browns to the Super Bowl. That makes YouTube the nation's water cooler on Monday, and it's got some preliminary stats to share in the lead up to kickoff.
As you know, Super Bowl advertisers, particularly automakers, like to endlessly tease their big budget commercials in the weeks before the game, many times revealing them outright days in advance. Because of this, YouTube can tell us which commercials have been viewed the most so far, and their top five list is all automakers.
Kaley Cuoco appears to have been a good investment for Toyota, as her ad for the RAV4 has garnered the most YouTube views - six million and counting - among Super Bowl commercials so far. Second place goes to Mercedes-Benz, though not its actual Super Bowl commercial, but rather the teaser for it. You know, the one with Kate Upton and the car washing, which is up to 5.6 million views. Third place is Audi's Prom commercial (3.3M views), fourth goes to Volkswagen's slightly controversial Get In, Get Happy ad (3.3M views), and the fifth and final spot is bookended by the teaser video for Kaley Cuoco's commercial (3.2M views). You can watch all five in order below.