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Every new compact car from the Volkswagen Group will be based on what you see here — the Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) platform. That includes the seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf and the new Audi A3. Given the company's recent design trends this may be the best the new Mk7 Golf will ever look. More »
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Two weeks after seeing Volkswagen's adorable teaser for their Super Bowl ad featuring dogs barking the Imperial March from Star Wars, here now is the automaker's amazing extended-length Super Bowl commercial. It's got everything you'd ever want from a big game ad — a dog and Darth Vader. More »
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Some careless Manchester, UK police officer was doing some testing in a loaned Volkswagen Golf R, hit a roundabout, and destroyed the roughly $63,000 car. The British press is having fun with it, calling the Golf R a "Supercar." Yeah, right. And Margaret Thatcher was a Page 3 Girl. More »
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For years if you needed a part or just wanted to wander through a field of aging Volkswagens, Sunray Bugs in Dade City, Florida was the place to go. Now the owner has until February to finish clearing what's left of the 800 or so old VWs left on his property. More »
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A pair of animators in Portland made their Italian Greyhound "Bones Mello" famous when they dressed him up as an AT-AT last October. So when we saw the Volkswagen Star Wars barking dog Super Bowl commercial preview last night we assumed the pup dressed up as an AT-AT was him. The animators, however, say it's not. Now we're left to wonder if VW ripped off their idea. More »
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The VW Caddy was basically a Seat Ibiza compact car (not sold in the US of A) with a van shell smushed onto its back. It was cheap to design, cheap to build, and great for small businesses. Flying, as it turns out, wasn't its forte. More »
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Sure it looks like a squashed bug, er Beetle; but the E-Bugster concept also has some very Porsche-y elements. Take, for example, those huge, chrome wheels that echo the Fuchs wheels of Porsches past. More »
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Here in Detroit, Volkswagen is setting up to reveal its long-awaited entry in the gasoline-electric space. That's the Jetta Hybrid. Indeed, later this year, the company will introduce a hybrid version of its Jetta sedan. More »
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Based on the 2012 Beetle, the E-Bugster pays tribute to the Volkswagen Ragster concept that debuted exactly six years ago here at the Detroit Auto Show — by chopping three inches from the roof. That's half of the six inches the Ragster concept lost six years ago. More »
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If you were looking for a sports car in the early 1960s it appears Coyle-Hampton Motors in El Cerrito, Ca wouldn't have been a bad place to start. We can't find one item on their lot that wasn't a little bit interesting or exotic even when it was a used car. More »
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As you may know, it's Hanukkah time, when Jews all over the world celebrate what may be organized religion's lamest miracle, and one of the few holidays where we Jews managed to not end up exiled or slaughtered or anything. It's a holiday with candles, presents, fried potatoes and a kickass story about a tough Jew named Judah the Hammer, so all in all, a pretty good time. To celebrate, I've compiled this list of eight (and one extra, the shamash) great Jews of motoring. Most people thought we'd only get one, and here we have over eight. Truly a great miracle happened here. More »
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It's shopping season, and getting a parking space at the mall can be a battle. Volkswagen of Argentina's demonstration of Park Assist suggests that it can also be a Wild West faceoff, complete with a bad guy in black. More »
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One hundred years ago yesterday — December 14th, 1911 — Roald Admundsen and his team of Norwegian explorers became the first humans to reach the South Pole, pulled by sled dogs. But it wasn't until 1963 that the first production car landed on Antarctic shores, a mostly-stock VW Beetle known as "the Red Terror." This is its story. More »
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If the Internet is good for anything, aside from hate-filled comments and rage comics, it's good for bringing people together with cars they never though they'd see again. This feel-good story from the awesome Bring a Trailer may restore your faith in our ubiquitous "series of tubes." — Ed. More »
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Been wondering what a Range Rover Evoque would look like if VW built it? Behold the Volkswagen Cross Coupe, which combines all the disadvantages of a sports coupe — poor vision, a tiny interior — with all the disadvantages of an SUV — inferior fuel economy, huge proportions — to create a vehicle that's less desirable than either. More »
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For years, automotive journalists have suspected the cars in automakers' test fleets are somehow better-finished than those customers get. (We've already told you how Ferrari games that system.) Now, Consumer Reports has some questions for Volkswagen about its 2012 Passat press cars. More »
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Although this 1988 Volkswagen Golf GTI commercial was originally aired in Mexico, this is a prime example of dramatic vintage advertising that transcends language barriers. More »
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In 1955 Volkswagen Transporters were nothing more than commercial vehicles, albeit strange and relatively rare commercial vehicles—at least in the US. Volkswagen hadn't yet captured American hearts with their clever advertising and few people even knew what they were. Even so, a few Volkswagens did make it over to this country that year, like this Panel Bus currently listed on Ebay. More »
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Can "R" be to VW what "AMG" is to Mercedes and "M" used to be to BMW? VW seems serious about making it just that. So serious, in fact, that they've named this color "Serious Grey." But can a cuddly new, new Volkswagen Beetle R be taken seriously? More »
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Positive to positive and negative to negative are two very important things to remember when jump starting a car. Otherwise you could end up with two very burnt cars, like the ones seen here. More »
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Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles will punish a motorist who tries to "EAT THE Kids First," yet gives a thumbs up to those who "EA7" kids or someone who "SLAPS" them. But how does Virginia feel about the place, albeit, apparently, dirty, where the kids come from in the first place? They approve. UPDATE! More »
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Volkswagen said today it would recall nearly 170,000 diesel-powered Golfs, Jettas and Audi A3 to fix a fuel line that could leak. What makes it more interesting is just how hard VW had to work to find the defect. More »
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The world got treated to some old-school car business back at the Frankfurt show when VW CEO Martin Winterkorn inspected the competition at the Hyundai stand. He was not pleased. More »
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Somewhat incongruously there's a professional ice hockey team based in Wolfsburg, Germany that is named after a ‘70s American TV show - Grizzly Adams. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Scirocco is both a Wolfsburg edition, and pretty cool, but will its price ice the deal? More »
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For her wedding day, British bride Megan Ashton wanted to arrive in a Porsche 356. Unable to afford one, she did something better — she spent six years hand-building this replica from a thrashed Volkswagen Beetle donor car. More »
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When the world's great auto makers leave you wanting, maybe it's time to go it alone with a kit car. And if your yearnings extend to gull wings and Asiatic dragons then perhaps it's time for this Nice Price or Crack Pipe Bradley GT II. You might however, hanker for it having a lower price. More »
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The tiny Volkswagen Up! concepts that VW flooded Frankfurt with this year won't see American shores — but if they perform as well as VW seems to think they will, Europeans should soak up all the extraneous exclamation points VW can build. More »
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It's got more chrome than Elvis had themed bedrooms, but it's nothing a little dirt couldn't fix. Underneath, the Beetle R is something we'd no doubt consider taking home for a little of the old paddle shift, know wot I mean? More »
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The Volkswagen Nils concept isn't the first time Volkswagen's threatened to change the automotive paradigm. It isn't even the second time. But it is the first time they've also threatened to turn conventional wisdom on fuel efficiency since World War II on its head. More »
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Front wheel drive cars are known for a lot of things, but being fun to drive is not one of them. Most car lovers will agree the FWD configuration can't compete with a RWD or AWD car when it comes to driving enjoyment. Having said that, this weekend we want to know what vehicle can provide the most automotive amusement even though it delivers power to the front wheels? What front wheel drive car is the most fun to drive? More »
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It only seats one person, has a 30-hp motor, takes 11 seconds to get from 0-to-60 mph and has a range of 40 miles. Stop the presses. Ok, you've heard this one before, but VW's intent on making this concept car a transformative event, so here goes. More »
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Our dealers just give out free hot dogs and balloons on Saturdays. In China, one Volkswagen dealership hired a band of bikini-clad models to lure in prospects. Until one model apparently decided swimwear was too much clothing for the gig. Maybe the dealership next door was offering bikini models and hot dogs. More »
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The combination of alcohol and automobiles is never a good one, except perhaps in the case of this custom beer can car. Originally built for the beer company Stroh, this unique can shaped product mobile is currently on Ebay. More »
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Long before Volkswagen started advertising the Beetle's ability to float, they built a vehicle meant to swim. It was called the Schwimmwagen or Type 166 for those who speak Volkswagen. Most of the approximately 16,000 amphibious Schwimmwagens built by Porsche and Volkswagen in the 1940s were destroyed in WWII, making this example currently on Ebay very rare and accordingly very expensive. More »
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German Ronny "C-Rock" Wechselberger made parallel parking history earlier this year when he flipped his Volkswagen Polo into a spot approximately 26 centimeters (10.24 inches) longer than his car without crashing. It beat the old record by just one centimeter. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5827810&view=rss&microfeed=true Automobile columnist Jamie Kitman's visit to the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga also revealed the city's secret shame: It smells like poop. The city, which drops massive urinal cakes in its sewers to contain the odor, says whaddya gonna do? More »
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Josh Clason's most recent Depth of Speed episode profiles Craig Johnson and his well restored vintage Volkswagens. It seems especially appropriate to examine vintage Volkswagen culture today, exactly 8 years after the last classic Beetle rolled off the assembly line. More »
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In a little over a decade Volkswagen saw its Beetle transform from Adolf Hitler's dream of the "people's car" to the foulest of all marketing slurs — a "chick car." Does the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle finally provide a more manly solution? We drove it today to find out. More »
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Following a win in the fifth round of the 2011 VW Scirocco R Cup at Norisring yesterday, Ola Nilsson made the embarrassing discovery that champagne covered podiums can get slippery fast. After an impressive performance, during which Nilsson held first place for the entire race, we aren't surprised the driver didn't let a little fall stop him from continuing his celebration. More »
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You read it right, a few VW buyers got caught up in the "Barrett-Jackson experience" while they were bidding on this immaculate 23 window Bus at the company's annual Orange County auction last night. When the smoke cleared a high bid of $198,000 had purchased the 1963 Volkswagen you see here ($217,800 after buyer's fees). More »
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