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Regulators consider adding more carmakers to Takata recall

Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal has been getting a lot of press recently, but the Takata airbag inflator affair could be grabbing headlines again soon. According to Bloomberg, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is contemplating an expansion to the campaign that could add seven automakers to the 12 already affected. They are Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Spartan Motors, Suzuki, Tesla, Volvo Trucks, and VW Group. To be clear, there's no recall for any of these automakers, yet. The government is simply asking for a full list of vehicles that each of them have with Takata-supplied inflators containing ammonium nitrate propellant. The agency is concerned this substance could play a roll in the ruptures. "NHTSA is considering not only whether to issue an administrative order that would coordinate the remedy programs associated with the current Takata recalls, but also whether such an order should include expansion of the current recalls," the letters say. All seven can be viewed, here. From a report supplied by Takata, the government already knows that the company supplied 887,055 inflators with ammonium-nitrate propellant to VW and 184,926 of them to Tesla. In an incident during the summer, a side airbag allegedly burst in a 2015 VW Tiguan. In early September, NHTSA put out a revised report that there were 23.4 million inflators to be replaced in 19.2 million vehicles in the US. An earlier accounting from the agency had about 34 million of the parts in 30 million cars. High humidity is still believed to be among the biggest risk factors for the ruptures. Although, if ammonium nitrate also gets the blame, some already recalled models might need to be repaired again. Related Video:

Bentley Bentayga bodies to be built in Bratislava

Volkswagen's plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, has come a long way. After getting its start in 1971 by subcontracting the production of Skoda-branded vehicles, the plant was purchased by VW in 1991, where it was quickly put to further good use as it began producing Volkswagen Passat models for export. More recently, Bratislava has become a bastion for SUVs, assembling the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne, in addition to the VW Touareg. Color us unsurprised, then, to learn that the Bentley Bentayga, which will be built atop the same large SUV platform as its cousins from Audi, Porsche and VW, will also be used for at least part of the production of Bentley's first SUV. Surely, though, one of the hallmarks of the Bentley brand is that its cars are handmade in England. Won't the Bentley-buying populace feel slighted by production in Slovakia? Not to worry. As is the case with the Porsche Cayenne, all that will be produced in Slovakia is the Bentayga's body. According to a report from Automotive News, bodies for the Bentayga will be shipped from Bratislava to Crewe, England, where they will be finished into fully operational vehicles. In order to accommodate the additional work, VW will reportedly invest 500 million euros into the plant in Slovakia and hire hundreds of workers.

Volkswagen Cross Coupe GTE concept previews new midsize CUV... again

Volkswagen has taken a big step towards the long-awaited second model to be built at its Chattanooga, TN factory, introducing the two-row Cross Coupe GTE Concept at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. The relatively handsome two-row crossover borrows its basic styling language from the CrossBlue Concept that launched at the 2013 Detroit show (that we later had a brief chance to drive), and the CrossBlue Coupe from that year's Shanghai Motor Show. To be entirely frank, it just looks like a much more production-ready version of the Shanghai concept. The more aggressive elements of that model, like its rear taillights, rounded wheel arches, and aggressive front and rear fascias, have been toned down considerably. In other words, this concept almost wouldn't look out of place on the average road. Changes in the cabin are similarly minor, with the same basic design as the CrossBlue, complemented by a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. While it's still quite clearly a concept car interior, it's not hard to imagine VW transitioning this cockpit into a production model. Riding atop the Volkswagen Group's MQB architecture – making it a relative, albeit distant, of cars like the VW Golf, Audi TT and the Euro-market Passat – the Cross Coupe GTE is motivated by a 3.6-liter VR6 that's been mated to not one, but two electric motors (one on each axle). The gas engine offers up 276 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, while the front axle's electric motor generates 54 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque, and the rear can deliver a more robust 114 hp and 199 lb-ft of torque. That cacophony can be easily boiled down to this: the Cross Coupe GTE has a total system output of 355 hp and 280 pound-feet of torque, which is good enough to get the five-seater to 60 miles per hour in six seconds, on to a top speed of 130 miles per hour. As a plug-in hybrid, though, there's more to the Cross Coupe GTE then just its power output. Range plays a big role, and in that regard, this concept is fairly average. It can cover 20 miles when its 14.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery is charged up. Beyond that, the drivetrain can be set to a number of modes to optimize the behavior of plug-in-hybrid powertrain. In E-Mode, which can be locked in via a battery hold/battery charge mode, all 20 miles of range are available, although the Cross Coupe's driver will only have the 114-hp rear axle electric motor to work with.