Autoblog

CAR and Autoweek have tapped their sources within Volkswagen to get the scoop on a rumored mid-engine Elise-fighter that may debut at next month's LA Auto Show. But when working with unnamed insiders, information tends to get jumbled in the process and differing reports emerge that suggest it's all more speculation than hard facts.

Both reports confirm what we've heard before: Volkswagen will limit the cylinder count to four, but that's where the similarities end. Autoweek's sources say that engine choices will be limited to either a 170-hp 1.4-liter Twincharger TSI gasoline engine or a new 125-hp 1.6-liter TDI sending power to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. CAR pegs displacement of the gasoline engines at between 1.2- and 1.4-liters, with output ranging from 105 to 160 hp. A 1.2-liter TDI producing 75 hp is also being bandied around.

According to Autoweek, the mid-engine coupe will come to market in 2011, while CAR contends production won't begin until 2013. Additionally, CAR reports that VW won't use an aluminum architecture due to cost constraints, meaning that the Modular Sports Car (MSC) will come in at around 2,660 pounds (300kg heavier than the Elise). On the other hand, Autoweek is saying that the concept will tip the scales below 2,200 pounds by tapping Audi for its expertise with aluminum and opening the door to a four-ringed variant with a choice of a 211-hp 2.0-liter TFSI or a 204-hp twin-turbo'd 2.0-liter TDI. Not to mention the possibility of a Porsche 914 successor.

A strut-based suspension will be employed instead of a Golf-derived multi-link arrangement, while parts cribbed from the rest of the VW line – ranging from steering components and brakes to electronics and transmissions – will be used to keep manufacturing costs in check. Autoweek is also reporting that both a coupe and roadster will be offered, which strikes us as totally unnecessary as VW would be better served offering a removable hard-top similar to that on the MSC's target, the Lotus Elise.

[Sources: CAR and Autoweek]

Audi has long been rumored to be developing an electric car and many of us concluded that it would be based on the A1 concept that the German automaker recently showed off at the Paris Motor Show. According to Audi board member Peter Schwarzenbauer, the electric car is indeed coming, though it will be based on the Volkswagen up! platform that's destined to carry the Lupo badge when it goes into production. Audi will need to work fast if it's going to catch BMW, its natural rival, which has already begun production of an electric version of the hugely popular MINI Cooper. For the Audi/VW offering, a battery pack will be mounted at the rear of the Lupo's platform, though we still have no indication of what type of battery will be used. What might the new car be named? Not sure, but we do know that A2 is available.


[Source: Autocar]

As with this year's American football season, weekly surprises in the car industry are now standard fare. VW recently overtook Ford for the number three spot in global sales, and now the home of the Beetle and the Veyron has overtaken Toyota as the industry's most valuable company based on dollar-converted market capitalization. Just as eyebrow raising is the reason for it: Toyota's stock has dropped 5% to its lowest point in four years due to the usual suspects, while VW's stock has climbed a stratospheric 87% due to the fact that Porsche is busy gobbling up the company. As far as we're concerned, that makes Porsche the real story: one of the industry's smallest players – it sold less than 100,000 cars around the world last year and still set a personal best – is about to be the world's third largest car maker and, for a while at least, its most valuable. What a difference a day a Cayenne makes. Thanks for the tip, bazzz!

[Source: Bloomberg]

Today on Cars We Can't Have, Oettinger turns its eye toward Volkswagen's C30 Scirocco. There's history between the tuning firm and VW's windy coupe, so this could be viewed as an addendum to past work. What does a tuner do, if not enhance performance? Indeed, Oettinger has fiddled about underhood to wring 240PS from the 2.0-liter engine, and the smaller 1.4-liter TSI mill is good for an even 200PS at the hands of the tuner. Anticipating that more is always better, the future holds a further enhanced 2.0 liter TSI engine frothing out 350PS.

It's not just engine tweaks. The hotted-up Scirocco is low enough to scrape roadkill from the tarmac, thanks to an adjustable suspension. Holding the increased go power from the engine room in check are larger brakes, and it wouldn't be a tuner car without a body kit. Oettinger's bodywork changes are more classy than garish, and overall the look is successful at ratcheting our desire for the Scirocco up another notch.


[Source: World Car Fans]

Volkswagen has made getting behind the wheel of a Scirocco just a little bit easier... in the UK. When the low-slung three-door was launched it was only available in up-level GT trim, but now it's available in base form, starting at £18,790. For what it's worth (not much, sadly), that converts to $32,600 at current rates, but the Scirocco still isn't offered in the States anyway. The new standard engine is VW's 1.4-liter TSI engine rated at 160-horsepower and nearly 43 miles per gallons in the combined EU cycle. The Base trim still includes a six-disc CD changer, air conditioning and exclusive 17-inch alloys.

A second engine is now offered in both Base and GT trims, and it's a diesel. Displacing 2.0-liters and offering 140-horsepower, the common rail oil-burner gets over 55 European miles per gallon, with a choice of either a six-speed manual or DSG gearbox.


[Source: Volkswagen]

Of all the wild-ass rumors we hear on a weekly daily hourly basis, this one has that special air of cow manure. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen is considering a pickup truck for the U.S. based off the second generation Beetle, which is due out around the turn of the decade.

The rationale behind this implausible idea stems from VW's goal to boost annual vehicle sales in the U.S. from its current 230,000 units to 1 million vehicle sales per year by 2018. Other derivatives of the new new Beetle could also include a crossover and a wagon.

Although the recently revealed VW Pickup Concept is only bound for markets outside the U.S. and Europe, a compelling case can be made for a light-duty truck for occasional haulers here in the States. But we somehow doubt that the U.S. consumers could warm up to a Beetle-based truck – nostalgia can only go so far.

[Source: Automotive News (sub. req.) via Pickuptrucks.com | Image: CargoFun]

The 2009 Volkwagen Golf GTI has made its official debut today at the 2008 Paris Motor Show today, but it will be a few weeks if not months before anyone, let alone us, gets time behind the wheel to sample this rapid rabbit. Fortunately we've found some video of the new GTI being driven somewhere in the world by people other than us, and it looks like they're having fun doing it. GTI-ophiles will get their choice of three- or five-door models when the car arrives, though both will be powered by the same 2.0L TFSI four-cylinder producing 210 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual or DSG is offered, and new for '09 is an XDS electronic limited-slip differential. Feel free to watch it all in action after the jump, and don't worry, this video has no janky hair-metal soundtrack from the '80s. All you hear is the engine revving and road passing beneath the tires.


[Source: YouTube]

We're still sour that the Scirocco isn't making it to our shores, but Volkswagen is throwing us a bone with the restyled 2009 MK VI GTI. The new front end made a successful transition from the low-slung hatch that's beyond our reach, finally eschewing the gaping maw that's afflicted Audi designs of late. Both three- and five-door variants were on hand here at the Paris Motor Show, and overall, we're even more smitten with version six then we were with the outgoing model.

As reported previously, the new GTI is packing a revised 2.0-liter TFSI four putting out 210 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque through either a six-speed manual or DSG gearbox and on to the front wheels through a new electronic limited-slip differential (XDS).

After spending some time inside we were reminded that VW (and Audi) still make some of the best interiors in the biz, with suitably supportive seats, confident switchgear and a small diameter steering wheel that we want to put under our pillow at night.

Check out our previous post for more details and scope the live and press images in the gallery below.

In the land of mergers and acquisitions, there are takeovers, there are hostile takeovers, and then there are I'm Gonna Git You Sucka No Matter What takeovers. Porsche's increasingly acrimonious battle to swallow VW is becoming that third option, and the brawl might threaten the short term plans of Porsche, VW and Audi. Porsche wants access to Audi engines and electronics, but VW, which owns more than 99-percent of Audi, won't allow it.

Porsche has de facto control of VW, with a 35.1-percent share. The so-called VW Law, which allows the government of Lower Saxony ultimate veto power even though it has only a 20-percent share, has been the broadsword that both VW and Germany have been using to keep Porsche at bay. The law has been struck down at least three times by the EU Commission and a German Court, only to have politicians figure out how to rewrite it without changing the substance of it.

VW's supverisory board recently declared it would need to approve any sharing between Porsche and Audi, and at the moment, Porsche can't overrule that decision. Ferdinand Piech, the head of VW, is in a battle with the Porsche family and Wendelin Wiedeking, the CEO of Porsche, over control, and neither is expected to budge. The risk is that since no one knows how this is all going to play out, a battle of egos and punitive reactions could interrupt development of and platform sharing between – and therefore the profits of – all three manufacturers' future products and technology.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]