From the home of the VW parts, the biggest indoor soccer contest will be bearing the Volkswagen badge. The Volkswagen United Masters, a tournament that will be held in 35 towns and cities, will kick off in Germany next spring. About 35,000 players were said to participate in the said event. In line with this, Volkswagen will be producing special edition “United” cars such as the New Beetle, the Polo, Golf, Jetta, Touran, and the Sharan. A “United” logo will be seen on the side section of each car’s rear. The VW parts of these cars were not changed much, but there are tons of added helpful devices. For instance, the new “Surprise” design will be seen in the middle sections of the seats. Also, these cars come with sporty car accessories—a Nike football, sports bag, and a towel.

The United models are available now. They can be powered by either a diesel or a petrol engine, and the Golf and the Touran comes with a double-clutch gearbox. Price list includes 14,275 euros for the Polo, 18,525 euros for the Golf, 20,475 euros for the New Beetle, etc. Excited Volkswagen and soccer enthusiasts are up and ready to line up for the United cars. So if you want one, you better fly off to Germany now and avail of it.

Source: Autospectator

Here are some really cool Beetles from the 5^th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition. These tricked-out VW parts are also in preparation for Beijing’s bit as the host country for the 2008 Olympics. These six pictures of the New Beetle are just a few of about 100 cars that were exhibited in the auto show. The show was said to be the last, “grand automobile exhibition in China” for the year of 2007. And what better way indeed to cap off the year with a big auto show like this.

Beetle lovers, auto lovers, or just interested citizens alike enjoyed the display of colorful and artful cars. These Beetles still carry the same trademark VW parts, but they have been decorated as if they are now wearing clothes made of authentic Chinese silk. (Let us look for the Cheongsam-donning Beetle.) The cars were all enhanced by over 400 local and international enterprises.

From a typically solid-colored Beetle, what we can see in these pictures is more than art—it also reflects Chinese culture. Some bear drawings of the Dragon, the Panda, or artful Chinese patterns. Nevertheless, they all bear Chinese elements. Not ironic at all even if the Beetle was originally crafted in Germany. After all, whatever country a Beetle might be, its versatility will reflect a country’s culture. And that, is one of the many reasons why a Beetle is still loved by all.

Source: China.org

Volkswagen is said to be cooking up plans for the next generation of the New Beetle, including a Roadster version which was said to be due by 2012. This good news erased all hypotheses that the makers of VW parts will kill the New Beetle’s production. This report is according to Germany’s auto-motor-sport magazine, but a Volkswagen spokesman described the magazine’s report as only a “speculation”. Hm… Could Volkswagen be bluffing, and keeping the project as a secret first?

According to the magazine, the Roadster version of the New Beetle will replace both the closed and the convertible models of the New Beetle. They even said that the German makers of VW parts were inspired by the concept of the two-seater “Ragster”, which is how they will go about the next-generation New Beetle. The Roadster was said to bear a 3.2-liter V6 engine which makes 206 horsepower. It comes with a brake system that uses the brake-regeneration technology to answer the issues on fuel economy. At the same time, Volkswagen was said to end the production of the Eos convertible.

This news is exciting, but then the excitement gets killed as Volkswagen continues to deny what the magazine reported. As for Beetle lovers out there, let us just keep our fingers crossed that this German magazine is telling the truth.

Source:  Earthtimes.com

Volkswagen of America CEO and President Stefan Jaocby has confirmed the sad news: There will be no Volkswagen Sirocco for North America. According to a report by Car and Driver, the American makers of VW parts already have the GTI and the R32 in place of the Sirocco. The Sirocco will be available for the European market by mid-2008.

Jacoby also said that they needed to focus on their company’s “core products”, such as the Rabbit, the Jetta, the Passat, and their latest addition, the Tiguan.

“The [2009 Scirocco] is lovely, but we can’t have everything,” Jacoby said in an interview by Car and Driver. At the same time, Jacoby truthfully announced the improvement of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Parts. He said that its launch will be moved later to late summer of 2008 because of some flaws in the emissions system. “We need to launch with proper emissions and quality,” Jacoby said in the same interview. Despite the delay, the American makers of the VW parts are still the first carmakers to offer diesel technology compliant with emissions regulations, Stateside. This will open the doors for future generations of Volkswagen’s diesel vehicles.

Source: Car and Driver

The makers of VW parts celebrated the 60^th birthday of the Transporter. At the same time, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles reached its 10 millionth mark, due to the successful production of vans. This celebration was all the more hyped up when UK advertisements pumped up a powerful copy, “10 Million Transporter Drivers Can’t Be Wrong”.

The VW parts-bearing van was first produced in Wolfsburg in the year 1950. It echoes the same power that the Beetle has—a 1,131 cc engine that develops 25PS. Today, the Transporter varies in four diesel engines—TDI PD, 1.9-liters to 2.5-liters—a long way from what it once was. But at the same time, the same old magic of the Transporter is still in tact. After the next 60 years that this van will live through, we will really know that 20 million Transporter Drivers can’t be wrong—or more.

Source: autoindustry

The Canadian arm of the makers of the VW parts announced that they will be “enhancing” the manufacturer’s sales program to offer “an even more attractive value-priced vehicle according to a report made by newswire.com.

“For a limited time only, consumer savings now total $2,500 on Jetta, $4,000 on Passat, and $5,000 on Touareg 2. In addition, any new 2008 Eos now benefits from savings of $2,000. Under this enhanced program, attractive APR rates, starting as low as 1.9 % have been extended to select 2008 model-year vehicles. These offers are valid until January 2, 2008,” the report stated.

The Canadian makers of high-quality VW parts are based in Ajax, Ontario. This great news will definitely help Canadians to achieve their dreams of driving a Volkswagen car. Be it the Jetta or the Touareg 2, sales will be expected to rise in the Canadian market.

Source: newswire.com

From Google’s ever-expanding ways to help people (the lazy ones who heavily rely on the internet, that is), they bring us the Google Street View. But with those very intensive shots, did you know that a Volkswagen Beetle is one of the cars that are responsible for creating these images? Yes, the flag-bearer of the VW parts is indeed chosen to be modified for some street-picture-tripping. Popular Mechanics took a ride at how this went, and they hopped onto the “Immersive Media VW Beetle” to see how it works its magic.

There is a $45,000 Dodeca 2360 video camera atop the Beetle’s roof. This wonder camera works 11 lenses which record a 360 degree field of view at 30 frames per second. (The film Exorcist suddenly gets into my head by explaining that, reminding me of the scene where the girl’s head made a 360 degree-turn. I guess that is how this camera works.) With that span of time, 200 miles of city scenes per day were recorded. Now that is pretty amazing. The VW parts of the Beetle were like given an overhaul—the whole back seat and front passenger seat is occupied by all the gadgets that the camera needs. Impressively, it is controlled by an “off-the-shelf Logitech game controller”. The softball-sized video camera is now considered as a revolutionary tool, especially for making Street View Map possible.

The hi-tech Beetle is being driven by Kevin Nanzer, 23, a “geoimmersive data producer for Immersive Media”. He specializes mainly on spherical video—a technology that has been known to support Google advocacies like Google earth, etc. Nanzer, together with a co-worker, traverse through the streets of the country in order to get these shots.

“By the end, you’ll get to know the city better than the one you grew up in,” he says in an interview by Popular Mechanics. “You can call me if you’re lost in Oklahoma City, and I can tell you how to get somewhere. I know all the streets.”

This teched-out Volkswagen Beetle is just one out of the six cars in the States which drive around for the same purpose. The Beetle has definitely seen it all—from Hitler’s dictatorship to this modern age of video capturing—and they will last to see more.

Source: Popular Mechanics

Macgamestore.com expanded its list of Mac game titles, coming up with the Colin McRae Rally. This game features 30 cars including two vehicles that showcase the VW parts—the Volkswagen Golf MK5, and a Beetle RSi! The game contains 300 stages in nine settings. The tracks simulate an international location, and even the road’s physical attributes vary. It uses the need for the gamer to apply real car handling physics. This game will give you just the right hint of the real rally driving. But in order to experience this game, you gotta be a Mac user first. Your system must have a Mac OS x 10.4 (or higher), 512 MB RAM, 4 GB of free hard disk space, DVD drive, with accelerated hardware 3D graphics card with a 64 MB VRAM. (Whew! Computer Geeky stuff makes me pant!)

Aside from the two VW parts-donning vehicles mentioned, other cars to look out for include a Toyota Celica GT-FOUR, Alfa Romeo 147 GTA, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, a Peugeot 206 and more. According to insidemacgames.com, “the core of the game is the non-linear, multi-discipline Career Challenge. Start out in the lower leagues of club rallying and learn your craft in over 20 different classes of rally events. Drive the most diverse selection of cars through more than 300 tracks in 9 worldwide locations.”

Who wants to see a decked-out Beetle RSi? We all do, that’s for sure. But if we all don’t have a chance of getting close to one, or even see one, the Colin McRae Rally game is probably the best way to go.

Source: insidemacgames

Stanford will be receiving a total of $5.57 million from Volkswagen of America. This is initially for the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Lab (VAIL), but it will be shared with Stanford University. VAIL is a new program that supports automotive teaching and research for interested students. This learning will take root at the Stanford University, where Junior was readied for the DARPA Challenge. From the makers of the VW parts, another branch of knowledge is accomplished to improve the automotive industry. (So before this news continues, congratulations Volkswagen, this is another great initiative from you guys!)

“The VAIL will be a solid foundation on which Volkswagen researchers and Stanford scientists will be able to find new ways to explore automotive technology,” Volkswagen of America’s Electronics Research Laboratory executive director Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, said in an interview by Earthtimes. “The work done at VAIL will help to further develop the future of mobility and autonomous driving that we started with our partnership on the DARPA Grand Challenge vehicles, Stanley and Junior.”

The makers of the VW parts are going to donate $2 million so that the California-established University could erect the building of the VAIL. A $750,000 budget is allotted every year for five years to fund the actual research and teaching activities, according to a report by Earthtimes. The classes will be held at Stanford’s CarLab, VAIL’s interdisciplinary research center.

“The success of Junior and Stanley in the DARPA Grand Challenge events show that when Stanford collaborates with great partners in industry, such as Volkswagen, we can create significant new technologies,” says Stanford Dean of Engineering Jim Plummer, in the same interview. “Transportation is a vital part of life and our goal as engineers is to find innovative ways to meet important human needs.”

Source: Earthtimes

We all know that Hitler commissioned the creation of the Beetle. Originally known as the Type 1, this car is Hitler’s vision of a five-passenger mode of transportation. Since then, as the cliché goes, everything was history. From creating VW parts for the Beetle, we now see Volkswagen stem out to provide other quality VW parts for other vehicles. But, little did we know, Volkswagen was a company rivaled in East Germany. Hence, the Beetle also has its “communist counterpart”, the Trabant or Trabi.

This little cutesy ride also rivaled the Beetle when it comes to being an icon. Even if its production halted in the year 1991, the Trabant is still successful in the many hearts that it won. Until today, Trabis are still used for transporting fun, and happy-go-lucky tourists in Germany. There are a lot of similarities between the Trabant and the Beetle. The Trabi just happens to be like the Beetle’s cheaper version, which was probably because it did not get funds from the government. Also, it received a connotation of being the “communist’s Beetle” because whereas the Beetle is employed by the Dictator Hitler, this car is not. It is a free-for-all entity.

So since there is not much tension between the Beetle and the Trabi (especially since this dictatiorship has long been over), let us congratulate and look back at Trabant’s glorious years. They have just reached their golden 50^th year. So, cheers to you, Beetle-bro!

Source: Reuters