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Automakers suspend some business in Russia following invasion

These Russian GAZ Tigr infantry mobility vehicles were destroyed by Ukrainian fighters in Kharkiv on Monday. (Getty Images)   Global auto and truck makers, including Sweden's Volvo Cars and Germany's Daimler Truck, on Monday suspended some business in Russia following that country's invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces invaded Ukraine last week, marking the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II. Many firms have idled operations in Russia following Western sanctions against Russia. Energy giant BP Plc, Russia's biggest foreign investor, abruptly announced over the weekend it was abandoning its 20% stake in state-controlled Rosneft at a cost of up to $25 billion. On Monday, Swedish automaker Volvo Cars said it would suspend car shipments to the Russian market until further notice, becoming the first international automaker to do so as sanctions over the invasion continue to bite. In a statement, the company said it had made the decision because of "potential risks associated with trading material with Russia, including the sanctions imposed by the EU and US." "Volvo Cars will not deliver any cars to the Russian market until further notice," it said. A Volvo spokesman said the carmaker exports vehicles to Russia from plants in Sweden, China and the United States. This came as Russia warned Sweden and Finland not to join NATO or risk facing “serious military-political consequences." Volvo sold around 9,000 cars in Russia in 2021, based on industry data. Earlier on Monday, RIA news agency reported Volkswagen had temporarily suspended deliveries of cars already in Russia to local dealerships, citing a company statement. VW had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. VW previously said it would halt production for a few days this week at two German factories after a delay in getting parts made in Ukraine. Daimler Truck said on Monday it would freeze its business activities in Russia with immediate effect, including its cooperation with Russian truck maker Kamaz. Mercedes-Benz Group is also looking into legal options to divest its 15% stake in Kamaz as quickly as possible, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported. A Mercedes spokesperson told Reuters business activities would have to be re-evaluated in light of the current events. Mercedes-Benz Group, formerly Daimler AG, was the parent company of Daimler Truck before the truck maker was spun off.

Watch Chris Harris in the electric VW ID.R waste a McLaren 720S

The Volkswagen ID.R doesn't have much in common with a McLaren 720S, other than the fact that they are both performance-crazed cars. One gets its power from batteries, the other from gas. One uses electric motors, the other a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8. One is a halo prototype vehicle, the other is a road-legal supercar available for purchase. So when Chris Harris and "Top Gear" decided to "race" the two against each other, it was more of a demonstration of the VW's unreal capabilities than any sort of real competitive faceoff. In episode five of Top Gear's 28th season, which just aired February 23, the trio of Harris, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness welcomed Youtuber KSI on the show and ventured out on a luxury sports car road trip with an Aston Martin, Porsche, and Ferrari. Separately, Harris took to the track to test out Volkswagen's golden egg of the moment, the ID.R. As VW fully launches into its electric-vehicle push, the ID.R is meant to exhibit what battery-electric technology is capable of. With two electric motors, one on the front axle and one on the rear axle, the 2,425-pound ID.R has four-wheel drive and makes a claimed 670 horsepower. As Harris notes in the video, the ID.R. was not built for a specific regulation-bogged racing organization or competition, and thus, it's only held back by the rules of Mother Nature and Father Physics. Since the car's debut, it has been annihilating records around the world, including at Pike's Peak, Goodwood, the Nurburgring, and Heaven's Gate. Chris Harris didn't set any records in the ID.R., but he certainly showed how outrageous this machine is. The 710-horsepower 720S can go from zero mph to 62 mph in less than three seconds, and the ID.R has a sizable lead within that same time. Again, this wasn't an instance of test-and-conclude, it was a show of perspective. The ID.R is a race car, so even though the 720S is one of the best supercars in the world, it never stood a chance. See for yourself above. Related Video:    

VW says it has sold over 100,000 TDI diesels in America this year

Volkswagen Group of America has lit oil-burning fireworks to celebrate the sales of more than 100,000 TDI Clean Diesel vehicles in the US between its VW and Audi brands this year. According to VW, that means it is responsible for more than 75 percent of diesel-engined cars and SUVs sold here - perhaps not surprising when the two brands offer a total of 12 diesel models.
What might be surprising is that the number of diesels isn't far off the estimated sales of 90,000 battery electric vehicles and PHEVs, with 15,000 of those accounted for by the Tesla Model S, another 12,000 or so being the Toyota Prius PHEV.
VW's keen to play up the ease of making diesel part of your life, stressing that it doesn't need any change to the refueling infrastructure and that "this is a technology delivering real answers to society's concerns about fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions without compromises."