Looks like Wolfgang Bernhard may have taken the appointment of Martin Winterkorn as future Volkswagen AG CEO personally. Reports are swirling that Bernhard is likely to step down soon. Newspapers are reporting today that VW has asked for a commitment from Bernhard by Friday. German business newspaper Handelsblatt said Bernhard had threatened as early as May to resign if Winterkorn became CEO. Continue reading Wolfgang Bernhard could leave VW if commitment doesn’t come by Friday
Categories:Volkswagen
BMW decided that it would do its hydrogen vehicle in a different way than most. Rather than building a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, BMW chose to stick with what it already knew well, internal combustion engines. Set to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of this month, the resulting Hydrogen 7 uses a dual-mode drive that is driver selectable at the flip of a switch. 
This is a bit of an old commercial, but it’s a good one, and since it’s resurfaced on the net, we thought we’d give you a chance to enjoy it again… for the first time. The ad is for Mercedes’ proprietary 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system and its astonishing homewrecking capabilities. Will the husband make it through the blizzard to catch his wife in the arms of another man? Not in this weather. 
In the week of the release of the most recent James Bond movie Casino Royale, there are reports that Ford sent information to potential buyers regarding the well being of Aston Martin. It stated that Aston is on track to sell 7,000 cars this year and will generate sales of £479m (US $912m) and a profit of £57m (US $109m). It also states that the Gaydon plant capacity could be expanded to 9,000 vehicles if necessary. 
Toyota has just been named Advertising Age’s 2006 Marketer of the Year. Citing an appealing lineup of vehicle designs, advertising campaigns and promotional strategies that have made it a hit with American consumers, Advertising Age warns Detroit to keep an eye on its rearview mirrors. We would say to watch your side windows at this point. Toyota’s sales have continued to rise without the need for incentives and they even helped pull the entire industry out of a sales decline with additional help from Lexus and Scion. Strong product is only part of the equation, however. Even with great products, the wrong image can kill you. 
Late last month, VIPs got a sneak peek, and today Aston Martin officially pulled the wraps off its new V8 Vantage Roadster for the rest of us to enjoy. The subject of innumerable spy photos and fanboy drooling, the beautiful baby Aston’s looks are made even better when its triple-layer top is neatly stowed under its hard tonneau. Should the weather should become less than perfect, raising it back up is an 18-second operation that can be done on the fly as long as you don’t exceed 30 mph. 
The average life expectancy of a Hybrid car. The average number of years it would take to break even in fuel savings after investing in a premium diesel engine. And the average number of years that some industry experts expect the current crop of petrol engines with manual transmissions to last before emissions standards render them useless. 
THE days of the crude, old-fashioned Jeep Wrangler are coming to a close. But is it useful on a regular road? Jeep has reinvented its rough off-road king as a true hybrid — capable of being as respectable on the road as it is brilliant off it. The new Wrangler JK has an improved engine line-up, including for the first time a diesel, a leap forward in refinement, and a four-door Unlimited model pitched at families. “We had a huge challenge on our hands,” says Jeep product vice-president Mike Donoughe. 
Many concept vehicles are really glimpses at future products that are already in the pipeline. That’s good and all, but sometimes, it’s fun to see what happens when designers are given no physical constraints and let their imaginations take over. The Volkswagen Nanospyder revealed in illustrations earlier this week is that sort of concept. Totally far-out, ripped from the pages of a sci-fi novel. The design was created for the ‘Design Los Angeles” conference that’ll be held later this month at the L.A. Auto Show. 
One thing’s for sure at SEMA: there is no correlation between the cars that look like they’ll steal your lunch money and the ones that actually do. Case in point: one Hyundai Elantra done up by David Brensend that, in addition to a healthy slathering of gouge-your-eyes-yellow and beautifully rendered flames, gets a diabolical joker airbrushed onto its hood.