2011 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen Se on 2040-cars

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The super-sized Atlas isn't the three-row VW should build

In the late '50s and early '60s the Volkswagen Beetle wasn't ubiquitous in my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, but it came pretty damn close. Fords and Chevys dominated, but beyond the occasional MG, Triumph, or Renault the import scene was essentially a VW scene. When my folks finally pulled the trigger on a second car they bought a Beetle, and that shopping process was my first exposure to a Volkswagen showroom. For our family VW love wasn't a cult, but our '66 model spoke – as did all Volkswagens and most imports at the time – of a return to common sense in your transportation choice. As VW's own marketing so wonderfully communicated, you didn't need big fins or annual model changes to go grab that carton of milk. Or, for that matter, to grab a week's worth of family holiday. In the wretched excess that was most of Motown at the time, the Beetle, Combi, Squareback, and even Karmann Ghia spoke to a minimal – but never plain – take on transportation as personal expression. Fifty years after that initial Beetle exposure, and as a fan of imports for what I believe to be all of the right reasons, the introduction of Volkswagen's Atlas to the world market is akin to a sociological gut punch. How is it that a brand whose modus operandi was to be the anti-Detroit could find itself warmly embracing Detroit and the excess it has historically embodied? Don't tell me it's because VW's Americanization of the Passat is going so well. To be fair, the domestic do-over of import brands didn't begin with the new Atlas crossover. Imports have been growing fat almost as long as Americans have, and it's a global trend. An early 911 is a veritable wisp when compared to its current counterpart, which constitutes – coincidentally – a 50-year gestation. In comparing today's BMW 3 Series to its' '77 predecessor, I see a 5 Series footprint. And how did four adults go to lunch in the early 3 Series? It is so much smaller than what we've become accustomed to today; the current 2 Series is more substantial. My empty-nester-view of three-row crossovers is true for most shoppers: If you need three rows of passenger capacity no more than two or three times a year – and most don't – rent it forgawdsake. If you do need the space more often, consider a minivan, which goes about its three-row mission with far more utility (and humility) than any SUV.

Jaguar Land Rover remains bullish on diesels

Despite Volkswagen's recent diesel scandal, Jaguar Land Rover is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to roll out the technology across most of its lineup in the coming years. Jaguar and Land Rover will add diesel engine variants to every model in their lineups, except for the Jaguar F-Type sports car. Land Rover launched the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport with available 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 diesels, and together they have sold more than 330 units so far in September, their first month on sale in the United States. JLA officials say they've seen no fallout from VW's emissions problem and are adamant their diesels meet EPA standards. "That has been our strategy, and it is not changing," Joe Eberhardt, Jaguar Land Rover North America CEO, told the Automotive Press Association on Wednesday in Detroit. "You have to deal with the situations as they arrive. We are confident of diesel." Jaguar will get another diesel next year from its Ingenium engine family, which will initially be sold in the XE sedan and the F-Pace crossover. It's a turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder unit and makes 180 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. A JLR spokesman said the Ingenium has not yet gone through the EPA certification process, and the diesel-powered models will arrive in the fall. Jaguar also plans to add diesel engines to the flagship XJ and XF sedans. Land Rovers, including the Discovery and Evoque, will also get diesel options, and the company estimates the technology will offer 20- to 30-percent improvements in fuel economy, depending on the vehicle. Eberhardt said it is "too soon to tell" if the diesel market will be weighed down by Volkswagen's situation. The German automaker admitted to cheating on emissions tests to make its diesel-powered cars appear to run cleaner than they actually do in real-world situations. The ensuing outrage forced longtime VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn to step down and prompted a reorganization of the company, which faces legal and regulatory action around the world. Still, Eberhardt maintains JLR is "very confident" in its diesels, which are part of its strategy to grow sales around the world. Land Rover has experienced rapid growth under the ownership of Indian conglomerate, Tata Motors, while Jaguar is set to revitalize its lineup with new entries like the XE and F-Pace to reach a broader market segment.

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.