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U.S. opens probe into whether VW vehicles infringe Jaguar Land Rover patents

WASHINGTON — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said on Monday it is opening in investigation into whether Volkswagen AG infringed on patents held by Jaguar Land Rover for a system used for off-road driving. In November, Jaguar Land Rover, a unit of Tata Motors, filed a complaint with the ITC seeking to prevent the import of some VW Porsche, Lamborghini and Audi models with "certain vehicle control systems" that allegedly infringe on it patents held for its Terrain Response system. The models include the Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne and AudiÂ’s Q8, Q7, Q5, A6 Allroad, and E-Tron vehicles and the VW Tiguan. The ITC said it has made no decision on the merits. VW said in a statement it was examining the action and determining its next steps. "We will of course cooperate with investigating authorities. While we cannot comment on any details of the proceedings, we strongly believe that the claims have no merit and will robustly defend our position," VW said. Many automakers offer a suite of off-road powertrain controls, but JLR claims Volkswagen's tech is more than just similar.  Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said the vehicles "have used JLRÂ’s patented inventions without payment or permission" notably a patent for an "improved system for driving a vehicle on different driving surfaces, in particular off-road." JLR says its Terrain Response technology uses the patented technology to maximize performance on off-road driving surfaces, including grass, snow, mud, sand and rocks.

Europeans get first crack at new Golf Variant wagon

Just last week, when we brought you news of a new Volkswagen Golf variant out and testing in Europe, we had no idea we were being so literal with out description. For it seems that VW has every intention of calling its new Golf wagon, making its Geneva debut, the "Golf Variant."
Odd/interesting sobriquets taken as read then, there's a lot to like about this new small wagon from VW. The Variant will shed some 232 pounds in this generation, and will come to market with two efficient TDI engines. Volkswagen isn't giving us displacement figures for either yet, but we're told the diesels will come with outputs of 110 and 150 horsepower. The 110-hp TDI BlueMotion Varient will be good for a whopping 71.3 miles per gallon on the European cycle, when mated to the six-speed manual transmission.
The German automaker has brought along an all-wheel-drive 4Motion version of the Gold Variant to bow in Geneva, as well, and a natural gas-burning TGI BlueMotion is said to be "in the pipeline."

Cars with the most reckless drivers are full of surprises

Insurify is a site for comparing auto insurance quotes. Because insurance shoppers need to submit information like the vehicles they're driving and the infractions they've compiled while driving those vehicles, Insurify has quite the database of correlations tying certain models to a habit of breaking certain laws. When the site's data analysts decided to compile a list of the top ten models for reckless driving citations in the decade from 2010 to 2019, the ranking contained a few wild entries. The Dodge Challenger making the countdown will surprise precisely zero people. But the Saturn L200? First, a definition: USLegal.com defines reckless driving as "driving with a willful or wanton disregard for safety. It is the operation of an automobile under such circumstances and in such a manner as to show a willful or reckless disregard of consequences." So this list is a caution about particular drivers more than the cars. For a baseline, according to Insurify data, for any random model, 15 out of 10,000 people who drive that model have picked up one citation for reckless driving. Back to that Challenger, then. No shocker for being here, but it's actually number 10, with 44 out of 10,000 Challenger drivers nabbed for a willful disregard of consequences on the road. That's better than the first surprise entry, the Saturn L200, a sedan only on sale for six years, with the least horsepower on the list, and out of production since 2005. The data set put drivers of GM's extraterrestrial sedan at 45 reckless pilots per 10,000 drivers. There are two pickups on the list, the only modern one being the Ram 1500 at eighth, with a rate of 46 in 10,000. Somehow, drivers of the third-best-selling pickup in the U.S. outrun the overwhelming numerical superiority of the best-selling vehicle in the States, the Ford F-150. The other pickup is the Chevrolet K1500 at number five, with a rate of 56 in 10,000. This is not only the oldest vehicle on the list, it went out of production in 2002, before any other vehicle on the list. Between the trucks, the Volkswagen CC slotted in at seven with 47 in 10,000 reckless driving chits, the Cadillac ATS slipped into sixth with 48 in 10,000.  The top four is a bag of unexpected. The Nissan 370Z is the first hardcore sports car on the list at number four, with 61 in 10,000 Z drivers flaunting their Fairladys in the face of Johnny Law.