Volkswagen

It’s still not coming to America. Sorry, readers — thought I’d get the disappointment out of the way. The company’s bean counters still believe America is the continent of SUVs.

VW announced a midlife refresh of the current Golf Mk VIII lineup today, and the PHEV GTE is getting some seriously attractive updates to the electric portion of the powertrain.

China’s behemoth BYD overtook Volkswagen as the best-selling car brand in China last year, the first time any carmaker outsold the German brand since at least 2008.

Tesla has slashed the prices of its Model Y across Europe this morning, after it reduced prices of its Model 3 and Model Y prices in China to undercut BYD, according to CNBC.

Volkswagen has been trying to develop solid-state EV batteries with US startup QuantumScape for years, pouring millions into the startup, with the dream that VW Golf EVs would zip along with long ranges and charge in minutes, but that hasn’t happened – not yet anyway. Now Reuters reports that the automaker is in talks with France’s Blue Solutions.

Well, it’s like 2015 all over again, but this time it involves Ram pickup trucks. And a lot of them. Engine maker Cummins is recalling 600,000 Ram trucks as part of a huge $2 billion settlement with both federal and California authorities for using illegal software to cheat results of diesel emissions tests.

Volkswagen’s CFO Arno Antlitz said Europe’s largest automaker has “all the ingredients” for success as the US auto industry shifts to electric. Despite this, VW is seeing reluctance for its EVs in Europe and potentially in the US as well.

Volkswagen handed over 394,000 EVs in 2023. Although EV deliveries were up 21% from last year, they still represented less than 9% of the VW brand’s total deliveries. The company said it expects the market to “remain challenging” this year.

Volkswagen’s latest infotainment update rolling out to several of its ID EV models includes a popular new bot – ChatGPT. The German automaker kicked off CES 2024 in Las Vegas this morning with the announcement as it looks to make the chatbot a standard feature in a majority of its passenger vehicles.

Volkswagen said it wouldn’t get involved in a price war with Tesla. But now it too is dramatically slashing prices on its ID line of electric vehicles in Europe, following Tesla’s price cuts for the top-selling Model 3 and Model Y.

If you were waiting on Volkswagen’s $27,000 (€25,000) ID 2all EV, you may have to wait a little longer. According to a local media report, Volkswagen is delaying volume production of the affordable electric car.

JAC Group’s Yiwei, a new EV brand in China backed by Volkswagen, debuted the first sodium-ion battery-powered electric car. The new JAC Yiwei EV rolled off the assembly line Wednesday.

Who says budget-friendly EVs don’t have enough space or features? Volkswagen unveiled the interior for its $27,000 ID 2all concept with generous storage space. Check out the latest images from VW’s head designer.

Volkswagen’s EV woes in China continue. After launching last week, the brand’s flagship ID.7 electric sedan received only 300 orders in three days.

VW, Audi, and Porsche have all committed to using the Tesla-developed NACS connector starting in 2025. It’s one of the last dominos to fall towards universal adoption of the connector.

Audi says it is now pulling back on what was a fairly ambitious rollout of upcoming electric vehicles in response to what its newly appointed CEO says is the EV “slowdown” and to “avoid burdening” factories and dealers.

In a strange reversal of plan, it looks like Volkswagen is revising its interior design. After a slew of complaints about its touchscreen-heavy interiors, the German brand is bringing back more good, old-fashioned physical buttons, according to Autocar.

Volkswagen is teasing its new affordable electric SUV for the first time. The ID. 2all is VW’s smallest electric SUV slated to sit below the ID.4 and ID.5 models.

Getting doored – when a car door unexpectedly flings open and you crash into it – is one of the most underestimated dangers to cyclists. While some cars have exit warning systems to protect cyclists, next-gen cars from Volkswagen and Ford attempts to push that technology a bit further.

I’m going to shoot straight with you: I don’t fully understand Volkswagen’s commercial van lineup — it is dizzyingly complicated. Today, VW announced the next generation of its commercial Transporter family will introduce an all-electric option in panel van, Kombi (dual purpose), dropside, and Caravelle (passenger) layouts.

European automakers are looking to affordable EVs to help boost demand. The latest may be a 20,000 euro ($21,500) EV from Volkswagen and Renault.

We have the latest scoop on VW’s new tech. After introducing V2G capabilities for its EVs, including the ID.4, Volkswagen has given Electrek new details.