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VW outsells GM in China for first time in 8 years

In case you didn't know, Volkswagen is hell-bent on becoming the largest automaker in the world. The German carmaker has inched closer to that goal, having outsold General Motors in China last quarter for the first time in eight years.
Volkswagen's sales in China, its largest marker, increased by 21 percent last quarter to 704,991 units. Those numbers almost tripled GM's third-quarter growth, and were enough to beat out the American automaker's 664,765 sales. GM, however, still leads in year-to-date sales in China by a slim margin of around 77,000 units. The Asian nation also happens to be GM's largest market, and according to the report in Automotive News, China's car market may grow to be larger than the US, Japan and Germany combined in three years' time.
About the news his company was bested in China by VW last quarter, GM CEO Dan Akerson is quoted saying, "It's not whether you're the biggest car manufacturer. It's whether you want to be the most profitable." It should be noted of these figures that GM includes truck figures, yet excludes Hong Kong and Macau from its Chinese sales numbers, while VW does just the opposite. Through September of this year, Volkswagen had 5 of the 10 best selling vehicles in China. GM boasted three of the cars on that list.

Ford Mustang Mach-E fails Sweden's moose test

The infamous moose test has claimed another casualty. This time it's the Ford Mustang Mach-E AWD Long Range, which was tested in an electric four-way alongside the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Skoda Enyaq iV (an electric utility vehicle closely related to the Volkswagen ID.4 that is sold in the United States). According to the Swedish testers at Teknikens Varld, Ford's electric car not only failed to hit the speed necessary for a passing grade, it didn't perform well at slower speeds, either. To pass the outlet's moose test, a car has to complete a rapid left-right-straight S-shaped pattern marked by cones at a speed of at least 72 km/h (44.7 miles per hour). The test is designed to mimic the type of avoidance maneuver a driver would have to take in order to avoid hitting something that wandered into the road, which in Sweden may be a moose but could just as easily be a deer or some other member of the animal kingdom elsewhere in the world, or possibly a child or car backing into the motorway. Not only is the maneuver very aggressive, it's also performed with weights belted into each seat and more weight added to the cargo area to hit the vehicle's maximum allowable carrying capacity. The Mustang Mach-E only managed to complete the moose test at 68 km/h (42.3 mph), well below the passing-grade threshold. Even at much lower speeds, Teknikens Varld says the Mach-E (which boasts the highest carrying capacity and was therefore loaded with more weight than the rest of the vehicles tested in this quartet) is "too soft in the chassis" and suffers from "too slow steering." Proving that it is indeed possible to pass the test, the Hyundai and Skoda completed the maneuver at the 44.7-mph figure required for a passing grade and the Tesla did it at 46.6 mph, albeit with less weight in the cargo area. It's not clear whether other versions of the Mustang Mach-E would pass the test. It's also unknown if Ford will make any changes to its chassis tuning or electronic stability control software, as some other automakers have done after a poor performance from Teknikens Varld, to improve its performance in the moose test. Related video:

Volkswagen Golf R Variant ready to haul ass, stuff

Volkswagen seems to be playing a cruel trick on the American automotive public at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's displaying its sexy Golf R Variant with no clear intention of actually selling the model here. The hot wagon launches in Europe in the spring, but the automaker makes absolutely no mention of the model's prospects in the US. Hopefully, its appearance in LA at least indicates VW is considering bringing it stateside. The great thing about this wagon is that it has everything that the regular Golf R offers, but there's even more room to carry stuff. The same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine makes 296 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque with a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox and 4Motion all-wheel drive. Performance is very close, too, with the Variant R taking 5.1 seconds to get to 62 miles per hour versus the 4.9 seconds the standard R needs to read 60 mph. The two of them also have the same tech goodies like ESC Sport stability control and multiple damping modes. The real advantage to opting for the estate is its ability to carry up to 57.2 cubic feet of cargo in the back. This hot rod wagon would seem to be perfect for the family that needs to haul some extra junk in the trunk, but doesn't want to sacrifice performance. Whether the Variant R makes it to the US remains a mystery, though. Scroll down to read the specs and feel a twinge of jealousy.