2013 BMW 1-Series: Coupe, Cabrio and More
BMW isn't alone in planning big for a sales rebound in North America: Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes are banking on America and Canada and Mexico to kick in big profits again, someday. But BMW is approaching things a little differently--in part, by plotting a major expansion of North American production and in tandem, a big expansion of its 1-Series lineup.
Today BMW builds two-door coupe and convertible and hatchback versions of the 1-Series; the U.S. gets only the coupe and convertible. That could change with the 2013 BMW 1-Series, which could add sedan, wagon and crossover models as well as a spin-off 2012 Z2 sportscar, according to colleagues at Motor Authority.
The Z2 seems a natural for production, with sportscars approaching a moment of green reckoning: both Porsche and Audi are said to be planning entry-level, four-cylinder roadsters right in step with BMW.
Powertrains for the next-gen 1-Series will likely include small four-cylinders from 1.3 to 2.0 liters, with and without turbocharging. A return of the 3.0-liter six, with and without twin turbos, is also likely, since those models are essential for competition in the luxury-minded U.S. market. Diesels are part of the plan as well, Motor Authority reports.
The first of the new BMW 1-Series vehicles should arrive in European markets in 2011, which likely means a 2013 model year stamp in America.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Bugatti On A Budget?
Once upon a time, only Russian plutocrats could only dream of sitting behind the wheel of a real Bugatti Veyron, but times have changed thanks to a little something we like to call Economic Hell on Earth. The latest snowball we've spotted floating in the River Styx comes via Holders Vehicle Contracts, which is now renting Veyrons at the rate of just $25,000 a day. That's only slightly more than you'd spend having your beach villa feng shui-ed.
Alternately, you could spend $100,000 souping up a 1979 Volkswagen Golf and leave the Veyron in the dust. Your call.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
2011 Volkswagen Polo: Wagon, Coupe, and a New GTI?
The new 2011 Volkswagen Polo just might be the small car VW needs to restore its reputation for inexpensive fun. The German automaker may not leave that to chance, if it adds a Polo GTI model and a two-door coupe to the subcompact lineup, as Motor Authority reports.
The new Polo will spawn a range of vehicles--a five-door wagon and a three-door hatchback, for starters. Also in the model plan: A two-door coupe is in the cards for Europe, Motor Authority says, slotting beneath Volkswagen's Scirocco coupe that's not sold in the U.S. The new coupe will get a supercharged and turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder that should make up to 180 horsepower in the Polo coupe. A seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission will be offered.
That powertrain will make its way into the planned Polo GTI as well. The GTI version will be a three-door hatchback, and was spotted recently in concept form.
Volkswagen's plans for the Polo in the U.S. haven't been laid out, but the GTI sub-brand has always helped Volkswagen's street credentials. Can it do the same for the first Polo play? We'll bring you more from the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, where we expect Volkswagen to reveal more of its plans for future small cars and electric cars, and also from the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show where the Polo GTI may make its world debut.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport: More Photos
Bugatti is at it again. The purveyors of the Pur Sang and other endless variations of the 1001-horsepower, quad-turbocharged Veyron have sent out more photos of their new Grand Sport targa to appeal to very, very well-heeled buyers--and you.
The million-dollar-ish Veyron's been the stuff of automotive legend since the company was kick-started back to life by Volkswagen, after an abortive attempt to relaunch it as an independent super-luxury brand in the 1990s. Today's Veyron has been in existence for a few years, and may be the only of its kind, should parent company Volkswagen decide that it's too expensive to produce another bespoke model for the marque.
As it faces an unclear future, Bugatti and its engineers have removed the roof on the Veyron to mate "the pinnacle of luxury and unparalleled driving performance to a harmonious whole," in their words. It's a targa model--short of a true convertible--in the interests of preserving the body structure of the mid-engined car.
Bugatti claims the new Grand Sport is the fastest convertible on the planet--and it's likely true. Until that's verified, however, these photos will have to tide over enthusiasts eager for 0-60 mph times in the sub 3-second range.
Follow our Bugatti tag for more, or swing over to the online Bugatti atelier for a more indulgent experience.
[Photos: Bugatti via Carscoop]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
VW Rabbit Becomes Golf Again For Sixth-Gen U.S. Release
Claiming an "important step in realigning with our global heritage," VW is welcoming the Golf nameplate back for the vehicle's sixth generation U.S. debut. For its fifth generation, the vehicle was dubbed Rabbit, harking back to the boxy VW sales success from the early 80s.
The "Golf is Volkswagen's best-selling global nameplate with more than 26 million units sold in over 120 countries," said Mark Barnes, COO, Volkswagen of America.
The Golf's world debut was in February at the Geneva Motor Show. The Golf's U.S. debut will be next week at the New York International Auto Show, and it will make its way to VW dealers sale this fall.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
VW and Toshiba To Partner On Electric Drive Systems
On Thursday, VW signed a letter of intent with the Toshiba Corporation with the objective of jointly developing electric drive units for VW's proposed New Small Family of vehicles. In addition to electric drive units, the companies will also be working on high specific energy density batteries.
Said VW AG chairman Dr. Martin Winterkorn, "Volkswagen is forging ahead with the development of future drive technologies in many different areas...I am convinced that this will be a major step forward towards the development of series production electric vehicles for our customers." Most recently, VW introduced its suite of BlueMotion high-efficiency vehicles including the 2010 Touareg V-6 TSI Hybrid, which will tow 7,700 lbs. and earn over 26 mpg.
Signing the letter of intent in Wolfsburg, Germany were Dr. Winterkorn and Asutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corp. Nishida feels the partnership is an important step "towards the drive technologies of tomorrow," adding that the partnership is a promising sign of mobility that emphasizes both ecology and economy.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Diesel Dominance In Dakar
Those Germans and their diesels. As if the LeMans-winning Audi R10 TDI race car wasn't enough, corporate sibling Volkswagen made its own diesel history, claiming the gold and silver medals at the Dakar Rally with TDI Touaregs and marking the first time diesels have placed in the event's thirty year history.
This year's Dakar event was held for the first time in South America. The race was a grueling off-road romp that covered over 9,000 kilometers and stretched from Buenos Aires, Argentina, across the Andes mountains and through Chile. Temperatures ranged from 104 degrees to below freezing; terrain included sand dunes, fording deep streams, and traversing rocky terrain in the Andes.
The first place Volkswagen Touareg TDI was driven by a South African, Giniel de Villiers, and a German, Dirk von Zitzewitz, both part of the VW Factory driving team. American VW factory driver and rock-crawling master Mark Miller took second place, making him the highest finishing American ever to race the Dakar Rally. Miller's co-driver was Ralph Pitchford.
Working with one less cylinder than the 3.o-liter TDI clean diesel V-6 that will debut for U.S. Touareg duty this spring, the Race Touareg's TDI five cylinder unit spits out 280 hp and 440 lb-ft of twist.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
California Adopts Tough New Diesel Emissions Regs
Bad news for trucking companies in the Golden State: On Friday, California adopted the toughest diesel emissions regulations for trucks in the United States. Some fear that costs associated with meeting the new regulations will shutter multiple small trucking companies in California.
Detroit News cites "smoggy skies and rising asthma rates" as reason for the new regulations, and indeed, shipping is one industry where internal combustion engines are allowed to burn largely unregulated. For all of their legendary torque, untreated diesel exhaust from old-tech diesel engines is full of NOX and particulate matter, the first bad for the air, the second a pretty nasty carcinogen. New passenger car diesels like the Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTEC, Audi A4 TDI, BMW 335d, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI, with their piezoelectric injectors, particulate traps, and selective catalytic reduction have largely cured the diesel's ills, but their technology is a costly remedy that could potentially sink the small trucking companies that will have to pay for them.
The new rules, voted into effect by CARB (California Air Resources Board), will take effect in 2011 and "speed up the replacement of thousands of polluting trucks and buses that typically stay on the road for decades," according to the Detroit News. Costs to meet the new regulations are estimated at $5.5 billion over 16 years. By 2014 all trucks must have particulate filters, and by 2023 no truck or bus in California may be older than 13 years unless equipped with NOX-reducing equipment.
The positive news? Californians will avoid an estimated $48 to $69 billion in health costs inflicted by breathing diesel fumes from truck engines.--Colin Mathews
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This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
VW Announces September ’09 Introduction for GTI and Rabbit
Americans love VWs GTI, as evidenced by '07 sales of that model that were 15,000 strong, more than a third of total '07 Rabbit sales. Due to that fondness for the GTI, explains Edmunds, VW pursued a quick schedule to get the car on sale in the U.S. after its June sale date in Germany.
VW hopes to sell more than 100,000 Rabbits and GTI's annually in the U.S. by 2018, part of it and Audi's corporate strategy of aggressive worldwide growth. At this point anyway, they look poised to deliver on the audacious goal, with a worldwide sales increase of some 15 percent in the third quarter of '08.
And despite numerous updates and upgrades to the new model, VW is keeping prices in check, with an average $250 increase across the model lineup. Under the hood of the GTI will be Volkswagen's excellent 2.0-liter TFSI (Turbocharged Fuel Stratified Injection, or direct injection for the layman). Rabbits will feature the 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder, and optional will be the new 2.0-liter TDI turbodiesel four. Rumor has it that a new 1.8-liter TFSI will eventually replace the 2.5-liter unit.--Colin Mathews
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This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
VW, Audi to Build More Cars in U.S., for U.S.
Like its sister brand Volkswagen, Audi is leaning toward adding vehicle production in the United States, something it's been toying with since the 1980s.
Said Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn in Automotive News: "The new mid-sized car which we want to build in America, we want only to sell in America." Enjoying nonstop growth of late, Volkswagen is in a position that U.S. domestic automakers can only dream of. As such, they have already broken ground on a $1 billion factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., that will produce up to 150,000 Volkswagens starting in 2011.
It is at this Chattanooga plant, which will ultimately have the capacity to build 250,000 vehicles per year, where Audi is considering producing more vehicles for sale in America. Part of the VW group, Audi wishes to double its U.S. sales by 2015 and is currently trying to decide where to produce that extra volume.
These are the kind of stories that out-of-work, disheartened Americans desperately want to hear, and it is indeed interesting that this boost to the U.S. economy is coming, no less, from Germany. Innovation and good planning are not owned by any one country or political ideology, it would seem. We need solutions right now for the legions of autoworkers who are--or will soon be--without work, and with any luck a flock of new factories will provide struggling Americans with at least some of jobs they so desperately need.--Colin Mathews
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Make sure you check out our partner sites dedicated to focused news, reviews and more for Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and the Toyota Prius.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
