VW Reportedly Considering Door- and Roof-Less Buggy Up!, Patents Design in the U.S.

Europe's largest carmaker, the Volkswagen Group, isn't known for producing platforms and mechanical components for single body style models (at least not in the mainstream segments), and that applies for the Up! mini, which was launched in 2011 as a three-door hatchback and has since gained a five-door and a light crossover version. Read more »

First Photos of VW's Design Vision GTI Concept, the Golf we'd All Want to Drive [Updated]

There's nothing terribly wrong with the new Golf GTI Mk7, but there's something about Volkswagen's "Design Vision GTI" track racing concept that gets our heart pumping.

It could be the 71mm (2.8 inches) wider, 57mm lower (2.2 inches) and 15mm (0.6 inches) shorter body of VW's Wörthersee Tour study with the aggressive details that exaggerate the original GTI's styling cues, or the fact that instead of the regular model's 217hp (220PS - base) / 227hp (230PS – Performance Edition), it sports a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 with 496hp (503PS) and 560 Nm (413 lb-ft).

Read more »

The Apprentices: Aspiring Youngsters Design and Build VW Golf GTI Cabrio Study

The Volkswagen presentations at the ongoing GTI Festival at the Wörthersee Lake in Austria continue with the unveiling of a special design study designed and built from start to end by a group of young apprentices from the company's Wolfsburg and Osnabrück plants. Read more »

VW Celebrates One-Millionth Scirocco with Special Edition Model and R Study

Volkswagen built the one-millionth Scirocco in 2013 since production of the first series started in 1974. To mark the event, the German carmaker has announced the Scirocco Million special edition model, which comes with a series of exterior and interior updates and is only available in Germany and China. The automaker also released a similar looking Scirocco R Million study (in a white finish) at this week's Wörthersee Tour, which for the time being, is not for sale. Read more »

New VW Amarok Power Pickup Concept in the Flesh

The first real life photos of one of Volkswagen's concept cars for the 2013 edition of the Wörthersee Tour fan-fest in Austria, the Amarok Power Pickup Truck, have landed on the digital world known as the internet.

We'll just go and say it that, from these images, the Amarok concept doesn't look as impressive or rather, aggressive, as the official sketches released on Tuesday suggested, which could possibly be explained by the less hunkered down ride of the real life model.

Read more »

VW Prepares Super Golf GTI Design Vision Concept with Twin-Turbo V6 and 496 Horses

With the 7th generation of the Golf GTI out in the open, it was only to be expected that Volkswagen would play around with one of its most recognized nameplates at this week's GTI meeting at Wörthersee in Austria, which will see the gathering of some 150,000 fans of the German automaker.

Promising to be the most radical Golf-based concept to make its way to the Wörthersee festival since the Golf GTI W12 from 2007, the new Design Vision GTI racing study was created by a team under the guidance of VW brand head of design, Klaus Bischoff.

Read more »

New VW Amarok R-Style Concept Announced for Wörthersee Tour

For more than three decades now, Volkswagen Group fans from all over the world come together for the annual Wörthersee Tour in Austria where the German automaker and its growing portfolio of brands bring a fleet of new models, concept cars and accessories.

This year will be no different with the VW brand having prepared a number of special cars, including a conceptual sports interpretation of the Amarok pickup truck powered by a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 diesel capable of delivering 268hp (272PS / 200kW) and a peak torque of 600Nm (442 lb-ft).

Read more »

VW Teases Wörthersee-bound Golf GTI Concept Made by Apprentices

Volkswagen plans to unveil a concept version of the latest Golf GTI on May 8 at the annual tuning festival in Wörthersee, Austria (May 8-11). The carmaker has posted two teaser photos of the car, but as is the customary these days, we can’t see anything beyond the car cover. However, VW has revealed that the show car was entirely developed by 13 of its young apprentices. Read more »

VW Changes its Tune, Says Still Thinking about Small Roadster

Talk about a future Volkswagen roadster has reignited after VW design Chief Walter de Silva acknowledged that such project has still a lot of support within the company. Although the 2009 BlueSport roadster concept was put on hold because VW didn’t see a business case for it, there are at least some executives within the brand who still believe in the potential of a small roadster. Read more »

VW to Unveil Golf GTI Study at Wörthersee Previewing Faster Production Model

At next week's 2013 GTI meet at Wörthersee, Austria, Volkswagen will bring a new Golf GTI concept car that previews an upcoming high-performance variant of the hot hatch.

VW research and development boss Ulrich Hackenberg confirmed to Car Magazine that a concept car previewing a future version of the GTI will be revealed at the tuning show.“It won’t have as much power as the Golf GTI W12. It will be more realistic,” Hackenberg told the British publication.

Read more »

VW’s CrossBlue Coupe Concept, Now With Official Details and 34 Photos

Volkswagen has made an unusually strong statement with the CrossBlue Coupe concept, which has just been officially revealed in Shanghai, not only with the bolder than usual styling, but also with a look-at-me paint finish. The message is clear – they want to attract attention and have succeeded in doing so. Now, we can add to our previous article, where we… covered styling, with fresh technical details straight from VW. Read more »

VW’s CrossBlue Coupe Concept Is So Sharp You Could Cut Yourself on It

We were weary when we first saw the teaser photos for the Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe concept, which showed an exaggerated version of a vehicle that promised to be very good-looking. However, we didn’t know just how much the actual car would be toned down. Well, we need wonder no more, because photos of the prototype leaked online, ahead of the its official debut at the 2013 Shanghai motor show. Read more »

New VW CrossBlue Coupe Concept Previewed Ahead of Shanghai Show Debut

Here's yet another crossover concept from a German carmaker that's set to debut at the 2013 Shanghai motor show. After the BMW X4 and Mercedes’ GLA concepts announced for the Chinese venue, we now have news from Volkswagen.

The Wolfsburg-based automaker will be bringing its own interpretation of the coupe-crossover formula to the show, in the form of the CrossBlue Coupe Concept, which is a sportier and more rakish-looking interpretation of the original idea – it probably also ditches the third row of seats too.

Read more »

1947 VW Beetle-Based V2 Sagitta is More Aerodynamic than New Golf, Mercedes CLA!

Can you imagine a 24-hp car that could reach a top speed of 140 km/h (87mph)? If you think such a performance is hard to achieve now, imagine what it was like in the 1940s. Because the car we’re talking about was developed toward the end of World War II by a German engineer by the name of Kurt Volkhart.

In the early 1940s he started work on streamlined versions of VW’s Typ-60 Beetle, as he wanted to explore Baron von König-Fachsenfeld’s aerodynamics studies. This is how the “V2 Sagitta” project was born.

Read more »

VW Launches Golf Estate Concept R-Line at the Geneva Motor Show

No sooner had the new Golf Estate been unveiled that VW announced a concept based on its compact station wagon. The Golf Estate Concept R-Line that made its debut today in Geneva is the first to receive the R-Line treatment and, according to the company, this concept shows how they envision such a version. Read more »

VW Imagines the Future of Delivery Vans with e-Co-Motion Concept

The e-Co-Motion Concept is Volkswagen's vision of a zero-emissions, compact delivery van of the not-so-distance future, and it was unveiled in the flesh today during a media-presentation held ahead of its public premiere at the Geneva International Auto Salon on Tuesday, March 5. Read more »

It's Official: VW's New e-Co-Motion All-Electric Van Concept

We first heard about the new Volkswagen e-Co-Motion Concept on Thursday, thanks to a rendering that surfaced online, and now the German carmaker has made it official.

Set for a world premiere at the upcoming 83rd edition of the Geneva International Auto Show, the e-Co-Motion is a study for a pure-electric van that's smaller in size than VW's popular Transporter T5.

Read more »

New Volkswagen e-Co-Motion Concept Hints at a Smaller Transporter Model

A new rendering of a Volkswagen concept van named "e-Co-Motion" has emerged online ahead of a rumored world premiere at the Geneva Auto Show, something we have not yet independently confirmed. Read more »

The Bugatti Veyron…Beetle Edition

If you had any doubts that Bugatti belongs to the same group as the makers of the legendary Beetle, just take a look at this, admittedly humorous, but at the same time, high-quality digital rendering, from the creative minds at RC82 Workchop.

The Polish artist(s) incorporated all the design cues of the original (or classic) Volkswagen Beetle, from the deep-dish steel wheels and bug eyes, to the window frames and exterior door hinges, on the shape of the Bugatti Veyron hypercar.

Read more »

NAIAS 2013: VW's New Passat Performance Concept is Anything But That...

When you hear the words "Performance Concept", you expect to see a high-powered model with looks to match its name, yet Volkswagen's U.S.-market Passat-based study doesn't satisfy in any of these aspects.

Sure, the German brand's new EA888 1.8-liter turbocharged produces an impressive output of 247-horses (250PS) for its displacement, but these days you can get a Honda Accord V6 with 278-horsepower – and the Japanese carmaker doesn't place a performance badge on it…

Read more »