Volkswagen

Johan De Nysschen has landed on his feet after being abruptly fired as President of Cadillac in April of 2018.  JDN will take over as Chief Operating Officer of Volkswagen of America starting October 1st. This is not JDN's first experience with Volkswagen Automotive Grou (VAG), he was once a star executive in the Audi organization.  He later moved on to Infiniti where he moved the headquarters to Hong Kong and renamed all the vehicles to the Q or QX designation. Infiniti has since moved bac

The Volkswagen brand is on track to introduce 34 models globally in 2020.  While some, like the ID.3, will be new to the portfolio, others are variants of familiar faces with many of those being electrified. Much stricter emissions rules come into effect in Europe starting January 1st and will force every company that sells on the continent to rethink their lineups. For Volkswagen, that means that most of their internal combustion powered vehicles will gain an available hybrid powertrain. V

Volkswagen is working both ends of the SUV size spectrum lately.  Their Atlas model has become an excellent seller, moving 74,108 copies as of November 2019. That an increase of 40% over the prior year to date figures.  Though it's first model year was 2018, Volkswagen feels that it is nearly time for a refresh for 2021. The update will be mostly visual with new head and tail lights, new front and rear bumpers, and a revised grille. Volkswagen says it will also have updated and new driver-assist

Volkswagen has broken ground on an $800 million expansion of their plant in Chattanooga, TN.  The expansion is for additional capacity to build electric vehicles for North America. The body shop will increase by 564,000 square feet and a new 198,000 square foot battery assembly center will be constructed. Overall the expansion will add about 1,000 permanent jobs. Production of a long range vehicle, the ID. Crozz / ID. 4 is expected to begin in the expanded plant in 2022. Chattanooga current

Volkswagen unveiled one of the loosest kept secrets in the automotive industry, the Atlas Cross Sport.  The 5-seater mid-size features a more rakish back glass to give a coupe like appearance.  While the Atlas Cross Sport is 2.8 inches shorter, it still rides on the same 117.3 inch wheelbase and boasts almost as much cargo space (77.8 cu. ft.) as the bigger Atlas (96.8 cu. ft.) with the seats folded.  The Cross Sport is also 2.3 inches lower to the ground adding to its racier profile.

The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission has filed suit in San Francisco on Thursday alleging that from April 2014 through May 2015, Volkswagen fraudulently issued more than $13 Billion in bonds and securities in the U.S. market.  During that time, the SEC alleges that Winterkorn and other senior management knew about the problem with over 500,000 diesel vehicles that exceeded legal emissions limits.  The suit says: Winterkorn resigned within days of the scandal braking in 2015. 

The Volkswagen Arteon is taking the scenic route to the US with a delayed launch brought on by some delays in getting its engine certified for the US.  The US version of the Arteon debuted at the Chicago Auto Show in 2018 and we recently reported that the Arteon would finally go on sale sometime in early summer. Volkswagen has announced pricing for the U.S. model will start at $35,845 plus $995 destination charge for the base SE front-wheel-drive model and $37,645 for all-wheel drive. All-w