More Sportier, Sleeker & Masculine for VW Beetle

VW designers have been ordered to create a sportier, more modern and sleek style for the next-gen Beetle. VW designers will utilize sleek and elegant body parts to enhanced its hi-tech auto equipment in order to create a more upscale and full modern look and style. To improve handling and driving experience, it is rumored that the new 2010 VW Beetle will be sharing a platform with the next-generation Golf and the new Scirocco.

The cutesy bug-eye and roundish shape will be discarded in favor of a more aggressive and more traditional style with a sportier stance and coupe-style roof. The new Beetle will also be made bigger than the current model and will make better use of the extra interior space for better practicality.

Source via AutoExpress

VW Microbus concept

Recently, an unnamed "senior Volkswagen official" told the paper that European production's basically a non-starter, and Volkswagen Group of America's Jill Bratina played it coy, saying only that a second vehicle line out of Chattanooga is "conceivable in the foreseeable future." The VW Microbus concept may continue their production. View for more pictures after this jump.

Volkswagen Caddy Topos Sail Concept

Recently, Volkswagen’s commercial arm announced that it will present the Caddy Topos Sail design concept which takes its nautical theme to the extreme with the wooden boat deck.

Based on VW’s smallest commercial vehicle, the design of the Caddy Topo Sail is using the cues from classic yachts and has its multi-functional roof covered with wooden decking surrounded by aluminum roof rails. Besides that, the driver and passengers can access the wooden boat deck via four matching wooden and aluminum steps in the Caddy’s tailgate. Completing the nautical design theme are wooden inserts along the side of the vehicle and in the rear bumper.

VW Passat CC Gold Coast 3.6 V6

VW presented a special edition model at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance classic car show. Based on the Passat CC with the 280 HP 3.6-liter V6 matted to a 6-speed DSG double-clutch transmission. Besides that, the Gold Coast edition boasts additional luxury and performance extras like the unique tri-coat paint featuring a mix of gold, brown and silver tones, a ground effects package with front and rear spoilers. For the wheel, a set of 19-inch alloy wheels and four leather sports seats with bronze piping and matching accents on the dash and door trim. The VW Passat CC is scheduled to arrive in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2008.

Volkswagen to participate World Rally Championship

Recently, the Volkswagen Group's plan to participate in World Rally Championship. However, the top-tier World Rally Championship would give Volkswagen a chance to claim honors against Ford, Subaru, Citroen and newcomers Suzuki, as well as the privateer teams. Fiat and Renault have also been touted as potential additions to the WRC roster.

Volkswagen 2028 Vehicles Design

Volkswagen has launched a new microsite to preview its vision of the possible future car design and technologies

The three concept vehicles designed by Volkswagen are “One” (for single passenger), “Ego” (a sporty two-seater) and “Room” (a vehicle for the family).

According to the website, the concept vehicles feature technologies with accident free driving, emissions free and with holographic interface system.

VW and Apple iCar

Last year it became known that Apple and Volkswagen were in talks about the possibility of building an "iCar" that would be upgraded with a series of products from the producer of the omnipresent iPod.

VW Scirocco GT24 325Hp Fully Revealed

The race-prepped Scirocco GT24 was fully revealed today at the GTI meeting at Wörther Lake in Austria. A modified version of VW's 2.0 liter TFSI engine that generates 325Hp along with a maximum torque of 340Nm available from only 2100rpm is powered for this car. Power is transferred to the the front wheels through a dual clutch gearbox (DSG)

The 325Hp Scirocco will be driven during the 24-hour endurance race by famous drivers like rally world champion Carlos Sainz and Hans-Joachim Stuck, three-time winner of the 24-hour Nürburgring race. We’ve added plenty of high-res images of the Scirocco GT24 right after the jump.

Volkswagen Working on Driverless Self-Parking System for Production

Around 1992 with the IRVW concept car, Volkswagen was experimenting with self-parking systems. New reports from Brit magazine Autocar indicate that a completely driverless version of the technology is in the works for production.

Unlike the Toyota developed parking aids, which allow a driver to parallel park a car without touching the wheel, VW’s system is said to do be capable of doing its thing with no human inside the car at all.

Volkswagon Space Up! concept (Tokyo Autoshow 2007)

VW's first up! concept made its debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show in September. That one was a two-door city car that put viewers in mind of the Smart Fortwo.

Now the second one- space up! is a four-seater van concept with four doors, although VW says, "in actuality there are even six" because it has a two-part rear door instead of a tailgate. The rear bench seat has two integrated child safety seats and can be removed, as can the front passenger seat.

The space up! is 60.6 inches in length and rides on a 100.8-inch wheelbase. It's 9 inches longer than the up! concept shown at Frankfurt. It is the bigger than the Volkswagen Beetle.

Golf GTI W12 concept

Golf GTI W12 concept. It looks like pure show candy: a
642-hp, mid-mounted W12 engine under cartoonish stretched bodywork. Yet not only is it a
driver, complete with a 202-mph top speed, but the company let us put it through its paces
at Gros Dölln in Germany, a former Soviet airbase.

The GTI W12 was commissioned to wow the crowds at this year’s Worthersee GTI festival in
Austria,
but designer Marc Lichte was told that it also must be a full runner. Therefore, it was
built to standards far closer to a prototype, and Lichte had the chance to rummage through
the more exotic reaches of the corporate parts bin.

It’s got Audi RS4 front brakes, a Lamborghini Gallardo back axle, a VW Phaeton six-speed
automatic gearbox and a twin-turbocharged, 6.0-liter W12 engine from the Bentley
Continental sitting where you’d expect to find the groceries in a standard GTI. Vast sill
extensions add six inches of width, while mammoth air intakes (including scoops integrated
into the roof and rear side windows) feed air to the mid-mounted motor.

And it drives almost as nicely as it looks. With drive to the rear wheels only, VW decided
to limit the engine’s torque output to 222 lb-ft in first gear and 331 lb-ft in second.
But from third gear upward, the full 553 lb-ft is available. The official 3.7-second 0-to
-62-mph time makes it quicker than a Gallardo.

It even corners pretty well, certainly considering its short wheelbase and lack of any
kind of stability control. Without the weight of an engine in the front, turn-in is a fair
bit blunter than with a standard GTI, but the big 295 profile tires find plenty of grip,
and the cornering line can be tightened up nicely on the throttle.

Relevance? None whatsoever. You won’t be surprised to hear that VW has no plans to put a
642-hp, mid-engined, rear-drive Golf into production. And it won’t be a U.S.-market
Rabbit, either. That’s not going to stop us from thinking the world would be a more
entertaining place with cars like this in it.