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Weekly Recap: Diesel scandal continues to fuel VW's woes

Volkswagen's woes continued this week when it was delisted from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and stripped of awards. Senators are also lining up to advocate for criminal and civil action against the automaker, and its consumer reputation is in tatters. Put simply, it's been another rough period for VW. Despite this, the company eked out a sales gain of less than one percent in September, though that was well behind the overall market's performance. Sister brand Audi, which sells a diesel A3, was less affected, posting a 16-percent gain in September. Revelations that Volkswagen rigged millions of diesel-powered cars around the world didn't surface until September 18, so the full sales impact of the ongoing scandal won't likely be felt until October. Meanwhile, VW's image continues to take a beating, and an AutoPacific survey found only one in 14 vehicle owners have a positive opinion of the company. Before the scandal broke, three-quarters of respondents had a positive view of VW. The survey also found 64 percent don't trust Volkswagen, though the same number believe other companies are or may also be using cheating devices to pass emissions tests. "The reputation of diesels has been severely damaged, at least for the short term," Ed Kim, AutoPacific's vice president of industry analysis, said in a statement. Despite the lingering malaise, experts believe VW will recover, just as Toyota and General Motors eventually emerged from their own high-profile controversies. "Consumers have proven through numerous recalls that they are resilient and quickly return to their buying habits," Kim said. OTHER NEWS & NOTES Mazda to reveal sports car concept in Tokyo Mazda will bring a curvy sports car concept to the Tokyo Motor Show in October. The automaker is being especially coy with the details, only releasing the dark teaser shot that you see to the right and a cryptic statement that suggests the concept "condense[s] Mazda's entire history of sports-car development into a single model." Immediately, speculation abounded this is an RX-7 and RX-8 successor, though Mazda didn't specify what engine the concept will have. Reportedly, the company is still working on rotary engines. Mazda will have a Cosmo Sport 110S on its stand in Tokyo, which pioneered rotary technology in 1967. Read into that what you will. The Rock pitches Ford service Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, is the new frontman for Ford service.

Tesla is quietly installing higher-speed, non-Supercharger network [UPDATE]

UPDATE: We've received confirmation from Tesla on details of the charging network, and have updated the text below accordingly. To a Tesla Model S driver, 58 miles an hour is pretty tepid when it comes to driving speed. Recharging speed, though? That's a pretty good clip. The California-based automaker is complementing the deployment of it high-powered Superchargers with slightly-less-super wall chargers that supply 80 amps and can provide almost 60 miles worth of driving in one hour of charging. That's about twice as fast as a 240-volt charger, though it's a fraction of the juice provided by the Superchargers that Tesla is building on at least three continents. The Tesla Destination Charging Program, recently covered in The Wall Street Journal, features the Tesla High Power Wall Connector. Those devices have been deployed at almost 110 hotels, beach parking lots and restaurants in North America, Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson confirmed to AutoblogGreen in an e-mail. Tesla just launched the program this spring and lists those chargers' locations on its website (www.teslamotors.com/findus). With such chargers in place, getting 58 miles to the hour will be valuable for day-tripping Model S drivers who are just looking to get home without a tow. And, like the Superchargers, the wall chargers are free to use. "By offering convenient destination charging services to Model S owners, these hotels and resorts are replicating the convenience our owners have become accustomed to at home," Georgeson said. Tesla has deployed 111 Supercharger stations across North America, in addition to 59 stations in Europe and 13 in Asia. Neither the Superchargers nor the wall chargers are compatible with any other electric vehicles, so no soup for you, Nissan Leaf drivers.

Tesla Model X spotted testing in motion for first time

What we've got here appears to be the first spy video of the Tesla Model X testing in the real world – we think. The vehicle's lines match up with the Model X EV prototypes we've seen before, but the car is wearing camo and the video was shot from a distance on a zoomed-in cell phone. Sadly, no one gets out to show off the falcon-wing doors, but we're 99-percent sure this is the highly-anticipated all-electric crossover that's due later this year (especially since the vehicle can be seen better in this Instagram picture, which also says there was a Model S nearby and that the towing vehicle was marked at belonging to Tesla). So, what do we have in the video? There's (understandably) no engine noise and lots of squealing tires to be heard. The driver seems to be testing acceleration and turning maneuvers on an unoccupied airstrip in Alameda, CA, near some docks, and the CUV appears to handle the tests with aplomb. Granted, that may be wishful thinking and conflated with our experience in the Model S, but watch for yourself and tell us what you think.