volkswagen

If you're a person who would gladly relinquish the task of parking your car to a computer, there may be a Volkswagen in your future.

Last weekend, Volkswagen Group of America and Stanford University's School of Engineering hosted a dedication ceremony on the Stanford campus for the new Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory (VAIL) that included the "first ever" autonomous parking demonstration by a driverless car.

The car, a VW Passat called Junior, was developed jointly by VW and Stanford and is the same one that finished second in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Driverless cars have … Read more

Firemint's Real Racing is one of the top-rated and most popular racing games in the App Store, but at $6.99 it's also among the priciest.

Alas, there's no lite version you can test-drive before you buy, but Volkswagen just unveiled the next best thing: Real Racing GTI, a free, VW-oriented version of the game.

Specifically, you get all the same visually stunning championship-racing goodness, but with just three tracks and half a dozen 2010 GTI hatchbacks.

This slimmed-down Real Racing offers three game modes: Quick Race, Time Trial (which lets you post race replays on YouTube!), … Read more

After the Toyota recall over loose floor mats interfering with gas pedals, Consumer Reports tested stuck throttle scenarios with a Toyota Venza, Chevrolet HHR, Volkswagen Jetta Wagon, and Mercedes-Benz E350. The nature of the test was simple, but probably a bit harrowing: the drivers floored the gas pedal until the cars reaches 60 mph, then, keeping the gas depressed, pushed down the brake pedal to see if the car would stop.

The test wasn't quite fair, as both German cars had a tech trick, called Smart Throttle, for just such a situation. When the brakes are applied, the throttle … Read more

WOLFSBURG, Germany--The successor to the New Beetle will arrive in 2012 with more back-seat room and better packaging, said Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.

Speaking at a media event here, he also said the next generation of the Beetle will be "more of a halo car" for the Volkswagen brand. And Jacoby said he expects the next Beetle to achieve higher sales. The current model peaked at 83,434 U.S. sales in 1999 and has plunged considerably since then.

"There is a great opportunity with the Beetle and the emotional fabric … Read more

Volkswagen of America Inc. today announced the launch of its smartphone-optimized mobile Web site.

The site offers customers location-based services such as the ability to find a dealer, schedule a test drive, or get a quote.

Instead of doing research about a new Volkswagen from home, potential owners can now find a vehicle they're interested in while on the way to their Volkswagen dealership. And, if they have any questions before they arrive, the Volkswagen dealer's number is just a click away.

The Web site is easy to use: just type in a ZIP code for local information.… Read more

Every year, for the past four years, Green Car Journal picks its Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show. Well, the LA Show will be here before you know it, so it's time to start thinking about this year's contestants, which have been narrowed down to five finalists.

The finalists include the Audi A3 TDI, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, the Toyota Prius, and the Volkswagen Golf TDI. That's two VW turbodiesels and a trio of hybrids; or four small hatchbacks and a small sedan. No matter how you look at it, … Read more

Volkswagen and Fish Labs have partnered to create yet another iPhone/iPod Touch advertisement, err, game. This time around, VW is giving you the opportunity to pull the Scirocco R out of your pocket and take it for a spin around the Nurburgring.

The game's title is a bit misleading. You don't actually get to complete a full 24-hour endurance race, which I'm sure would be impossible with the handheld's battery life. Rather, the game drops you in at last leg of the race in 11th place with 23 hours and 50 minutes already on the … Read more

Japanese automakers pioneered hybrid cars, but German companies have been slow to join in. At the Frankfurt auto show, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche showed off their latest efforts, a mix of research and production vehicles. Most of these cars don't stint on the power, merely using hybrid systems to boost efficiency without shooting for stellar fuel economy.

Volkswagen also comes in with a hybrid concept in its quest to build a car that will only burn one liter of fuel over 100 kilometers. And Lexus shows off a luxury compact concept with a full hybrid power train as a … Read more

As is becoming common at auto shows these days, a number of electric cars were on display at the Frankfurt auto show, with automakers showing off research into next millennium's generation of vehicles. On hand were concepts from Peugeot, Renault, Audi, Volkswagen, and Ford. Two entrants from Tesla were on hand, one a Roadster tuned up by Brabus, the only current production car available out of this lot, and the other the upcoming Model S, expected to begin production in 2011.