volkswagen

DETROIT--Volkswagen on Monday rolled out a hybrid concept car called the New Compact Coupe, a machine the company said will get 45 miles per gallon by combining a four-cylinder gasoline engine from the company's TSI with a 1.1 kWh lithium-ion battery.

When the car's gasoline engine isn't needed, it shuts off and is disengaged from the transmission to cut down on drag, including at highway speeds. The braking system can recover energy by storing it in the battery, the company said at the concept car's unveiling at the North American International Auto Show here.

The … Read more

DETROIT -- With federal mileage standards rising, automakers next week will show a fresh group of fuel-efficient vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Ford will unveil the redesigned production Focus, and Honda will show the production version of the CR-Z hybrid hatchback. Toyota and Volkswagen will roll out hybrid concepts; Audi, BMW and Fiat will display electric concepts.

Show organizers are arranging various electric cars, including one from China's BYD Auto, in a space on the show floor called Electric Avenue.

But high performance will get its due. Judging by vehicles at the show, performance … Read more

I've been showing lots of love to the many fabulous new sports cars I scoped at the recently held 2009 International Auto Show, but it's not as if those were the only types of cars on display at San Francisco's Moscone Center. So I thought it was time "now for something completely different" like Monty Python's Flying Circus. But this car isn't British (although I'm a sucker for a Jaguar of any vintage). Instead I thought we'd share a pint with the 2010 VW New Beetle that made its presence felt … Read more

BorgWarner will supply turbochargers for the Opel 1.6-liter compressed natural gas (CNG) engine and the VW 1.4-liter TSI EcoFuel engine.

CNG engines produce about 70 percent less nitrous oxide than diesel engines and about 25 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline engines, but are slower to accelerate than the fossil fuel counterparts.

To lower weight and guarantee a fast response on the Opel Zafira ecoFlex Turbo, BorgWarner worked with Opel to optimize the water-cooled turbocharger. The engine delivers powerful performance, accelerating from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/hr) in 11.5 seconds.

BorgWarner also worked with Volkswagen … Read more

Volkswagen unveiled one of the few new concepts at the 2009 LA auto show, a tiny hybrid concept called the Up Lite concept (or Up! Lite, if you have a penchant for gratuitous punctuation). This small turbo-diesel hybrid possesses a small physical footprint--being much smaller than the VW Golf--and a super small carbon footprint, reaching an astronomical 70 US mpg fuel economy on the EU testing cycle.

To create the power train for the Up Lite, VW took its 1.6-liter TDI engine, chopped it in half, and slapped an electric engine on the back. Of course, we're sure … Read more

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) conducted its autonomous vehicle races, the Grand Challenge and the Urban Challenge, in 2005 and 2007, but Volkswagen is still researching the technology. A combined effort with Volkswagen's Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL), Stanford University's Dynamics Design Lab (SDDL), and Sun Microsystem's resulted in the autonomous Audi TTS. The group working on the car is considering a run up the 12.4-mile Pikes Peak Hill Climb course in 2010 to demonstrate the capabilities of its driverless technology.

This new robot car is based on a 2009 Audi TTS, the sport version … Read more

Real Racing GTI is essentially a free, Volkswagen-sponsored preview of the popular racing game Real Racing. Real Racing GTI prominently features (not surprisingly) the new Volkswagen GTI, in six different colors, complete with Volkswagen ads on the track and a "showroom" in which you can check out a video and interior shots of the car.

As with the full version of the game, the gameplay and first-person interface are exceptionally good, striking just the right balance between an arcade driving game and a full-on racing sim. You can choose between five different methods for controlling your car, switching … Read more

The fact that Volkswagen didn't change the turbocharged 2-liter engine from the 2009 to the 2010 GTI might make you think this model update is all cosmetic, but you would be wrong. With a direct injected four-cylinder engine and the optional Direct Shift Gearbox, a dual-clutch automated manual, there just wasn't much room for improvement in the power train. So Volkswagen took on the handling tech, putting an electronic power steering in the GTI and adding an electronic limited slip.

And sure, the body presents smooth sides, a style very much in vogue now among automotive designers, and a new, wide front grille look. But the GTI also gets greatly improved cabin tech, taking on Volkswagen's new hard drive-based navigation system and a Dynaudio sound system. And even without the navigation option present, the car still gets a touch-screen LCD for the stereo.

Through the cones We spent some time with the 2010 Volkswagen GTI, getting the opportunity to run it through a couple of autocross courses, a track marked out by cones with sharp turns that really test the car's handling. We also put the car through its paces on some public roads, and dug through the cabin electronics.

The GTI's ride is reasonably comfortable, which is actually impressive considering how it performed on the autocross course. As we threw it into hairpin turns and guided it through S curves, all the action was at the front wheels. … Read more

MIT intends to revolutionize GPS navigation by making it friendly and predictive, using a friendly robot helper to anticipate your needs. The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) is a robot head on an articulated neck, reminiscent of movie robots from the 1980s, that mounts in the center of the dashboard.

It incorporates an expressive "face" that can smile, look sad, show warning signs, and even wink at you. AIDA was developed as a collaboration between the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, MIT's SENSEable City Lab, and Volkswagen Group of America's Electronics Research Lab.

AIDA's expressive behaviors are designed to endear the device to you as it helps in your daily navigation. The robot learns your daily commute and which areas you frequent for which purposes.

For example, if you always head to a particular district in your city around dinner time, it will assume you like to eat dinner there. After it memorizes your commute, it will automatically plug in your route to work when you get into the car on a weekday morning. If you go to a hotel for a dalliance every Thursday at noon, it will probably give you a wink and a knowing grin as it maps the route for you. … Read more