2012 Volkswagen Tiguan Sports up with New R-Line Packages

Volkswagen is adding some pizazz to its recently facelifted 2012 Tiguan SUV with the release of two R-Line packages, one for the interior and one for the exterior. Both packages are designed for the ‘Sport & Style’ trim model and come with a slew of visual upgrades.

On the outside, the exterior treatment includes more aggressively designed front and rear bumpers, roof spoiler, a black rear diffuser, R-Line logos, aluminium door sill plates and newly designed 19-inch alloy wheels with 255/40 tires.

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Volkswagen Completes First Tests with New Polo R WRC [Video]

After making its motorshow debut in Frankfurt this past September, the new Volkswagen Polo R WRC completed its first laps today in the hands of two-time World Rally Champion and Dakar winner Carlos Sainz and Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the VW Board of Management for Technology.

The four-wheel drive WRC Polo R that is equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo engine delivering an output of about 300-horses was tested in the vineyards of Veldenz near Trier, which normally plays host to the ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

Hackenberg and Sainz, both with co-driver Timo Gottschalk on their side, were able to drive the car for close to 100 kilometers (62 miles) on the 2.8km-long tarmac circuit.

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Video: Cadillac Owner Pushes Newbie in VW to Safety

Let's face it; we all need a helping hand sometime in our life and luckily, there are people out there willing to step in.

Like the owner of this Cadillac crossover that was captured on film in an underground parking helping out the driver of what looks to be a previous generation Volkswagen Polo hatchback.

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2013 Volkswagen CC Facelift Unveiled Before its LA Auto Show World Premiere

Some four years and 270,000 sales worldwide after the launch of the Volkswagen Passat's flashy four-door coupe sibling, it's time for the CC to receive its first mid-life makeover.

Set to make its world debut at the upcoming 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, the 2013 Volkswagen Passat packs some select visual scrub ups to bring it up to date with the German brand's more recent offerings.

You can spot the new model by the redesigned front that gets a new chrome-trimmed grille, reshaped headlamps that incorporate a ring of LEDs and a reworked bumper.

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VW Boss Confirms Production Version of XL1 Concept for 2013

Remember the XL1 Super Efficient Vehicle (SEV) diesel-electric hybrid concept that Volkswagen unveiled at the Qatar Motor Show this past January? Martin Winterkorn, CEO of the VW Group, told to Autonews Europe that development plans for the ultra-efficient two-seater model are proceeding.

"We will start small series production by 2013 – in Germany," Winterkorn told the publication.

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Volkswagen Group Operating Profits Soar 86 Percent in the First 9 Months of 2011

Whereas the rest of the European carmakers such as PSA Peugeot and Citroen and the Fiat Group are facing troubled times, the German auto industry is enjoying one of its most prosperous eras ever.

On Thursday, Europe's largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, announced that it has earned more in the first nine months of 2011 than in the whole of 2010.

The company's operating profit surged to €9.0 billion (US$12.5 billion) from January through September, up from €7.1 billion in fiscal 2010 and €4.8 billion in the same period last year, which represents a staggering 86 percent increase.

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VW Releases New Beetle Apple App that Interacts with Billboards

Mobile apps are becoming increasingly popular these days as tools to market products and services. This has not escaped the attention of automakers and their respective advertising and marketing divisions, which try to create apps to draw the attention of consumers.

Following the recently launched FT-86 app by Toyota, Volkswagen of Canada has also released its own interactive app to promote the new 2012 Beetle named "VWJuicedUp".

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Volkswagen Squeezes 16 People in the Up! City Car

There are many kinds of automotive-related records but one of the most common is trying to fit as many people as possible in a passenger car.

If a VW Camper sounds spacious to you, try to imagine what it must have felt like for the 86 students of the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland, than were cramped inside on April 23, 2009, or the 27 Penn State students that set a new Guinness World Record by squeezing themselves in a New Beetle.

These records inspired the crew over at VW Communications to find out how many people could fit in the 3.5 m-long Up! city car.

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New Volkswagen Scale Models Hit Official Store

More often than not, when a new Volkswagen model is presented to the public, the German automaker commissions a matching scale replica, and this week, we have not one, but four new miniature vehicles that go on sale through the company's official store.

These include the production versions of the new up! city car and the Beetle along with the two-seater XL1 diesel-electric hybrid study and the Race Touareg 3 competition vehicle.

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Sleepers, Creepers: VW Beetle GTO - Yes, it's Another Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 Engine Swap

While looking for information on the Russian Fiat Coupe with the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 drivetrain the other day, we found this customized Volkswagen Beetle sporting the same 6g72 twin turbocharged V6 engine.

However, this time, the Japanese powerplant was mounted behind the front seats of the classic Beetle with power being directed to the rear wheels only through a modified version of the Mitsubishi coupe's gearbox.

The VW 1302 GTO was built in Norway and it appears to be an ongoing project. You can get a taste of what it looks and sounds like in the videos below.

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VW Releases Pricing and Opens Order Book for New Beetle in the UK

The brand-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle will arrive in British showrooms next spring with a starting price of £16,490 OTR. However, the German firm is accepting orders from today.

In the UK, the new Beetle will launch with two available petrol engines, a 1.2-litre TSI unit with 105-horses linked to a seven-speed DSG transmission and a 1.4-litre TSI delivering 160HP with a six-speed manual gearbox.

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VW Group Says "Nein" to Suzuki's Request to Return its Shares

The feud between Volkswagen Group and Suzuki Motors Corp. continued on Monday as the German automaker issued a press statement saying that it has no intention to sell its 19.9 percent stake in the Japanese company despite the latter's request to disband their partnership.

The VW Group said it will keep its stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. "unchanged," adding "the discussion between both parties will be exclusively conducted internally" and that "it will not comment on any further speculation."

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VW Group Surpasses Six Million Sales in the First Nine Months of the Year

The Volkswagen Group is defying the economic crisis and gearing up to set a new sales milestone this year. For the first time in its history, the German maker sold 6.11 million vehicles (5.36 million if you exclude the Scania truck division) in the first nine months of the year, marking a 13.9 percent increase over the same period in 2010. Read more »

Skoda Begins Production of its New Citigo Mini

It's an important day for Skoda as the VW Group brand began series production of its brand-new Citigo small car at its facility in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday. The Citigo is a sister model to the VW Up! and the Seat Mii and it will play a crucial role in driving up the Czech manufacturer's global sales. Read more »

New Volkswagen Polo R-Line and Passat Exclusive Edition

European customers now have new choices when it comes to Volkswagen's Polo supermini and the Passat as the German brand is expanding its customization program for the two aforementioned models.

For the Polo, Volkswagen has introduced two R-Line styling packages. The first is the R-Line Exterior package that is available as an option for the Polo Comfortline (€1,450) and the Polo Highline (€1,010).

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Two New Volkswagen Production Models to Debut at the LA Auto Show

Next up on our international motorshow calendar is the Los Angeles Auto Show that will be open to the public from November 18 to 27. The event organizers say that at least 17 world premieres have already been confirmed, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Among the new cars to debut in LA will be two Volkswagen models. According to a report from Kicking Tires, Volkswagen made the announcement on Wednesday but didn't name the new vehicles simply stating that both will be production cars.

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Seven Major Carmakers Agree on a Common EV Charging Protocol

ACEA, the European car manufacturers’ association, recently called for a common electric vehicle charging standard to be adopted by all automakers. This would be the ideal solution for a unified infrastructure, which in turn, would further boost EV sales.

No sooner had the association’s call been published and seven major manufacturers from Europe and the U.S. but oddly enough, not from Japan, namely Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen, announced an agreement to support “a harmonized single-port fast charging approach” for electric vehicles in Europe and North America.

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Skoda Rolls Out New Rapid Small Sedan in India [with Video]

In the next step towards its bold goal of increasing Skoda's worldwide sales to at least 1.5 million vehicles per year by 2018, the Volkswagen Group revealed a new entry-level Skoda sedan named Rapid at its Pune plant in western India on Sunday.

Although it had been suggested that the Rapide may be the production version of Skoda's MissionL concept that was show in Frankfurt last month, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Instead, the Rapid, which borrows its name from the rear-engine Skoda coupe of the mid-late 1980s, is a rebadged version of the Indian market VW Vento, otherwise known as the Polo sedan.

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The Ghost of Chuck Norris Approves This Video [VW Polo Content]

Why did the Volkswagen Polo hatchback cross the road? [Insert joke/answer here]. But seriously now, we don't know.

What we can tell you is that we see is a sliver Polo 5d parked in what is probably a dealership (or perhaps a rental car office) seemingly somewhere in Europe and then, all of a sudden; the Polo begins to roll out the shop.

The German supermini drives through the entrance and falls down onto a busy road full of cars, and then, as if Chuck Norris a guardian angel was looking over the shoulders of anyone involved in this clip, the car goes straight through the traffic without causing any trouble.

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New Raunchy Volkswagen Passat Ad shows us the "Naked Truth"

Volkswagen is trying its best to associate the new U.S. built 2012 Passat with both the big (cinema) and small (television) screen.

Following up on its mini Darth Vader parody, das Germans have now joined forces with FX and its sitcom, "The League", for a sketch-like ad called "Win At All Costs: Naked Truth".

The spot, which is more than two minutes long, shows Stephen Rannazzisi as Kevin and Katie Aselton as Jenny playing out a humorous sketch about winning and losing bets. Hit the jump to check it out.

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