2005 Volkswagen Passat Gl Tdi Sedan 4-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Volkswagen considering a four-door, four-seat XL1

According to a report in Autocar, Volkswagen might have more in mind for the XL1 than mining it for advances to grace the next-generation Golf. Aiming to fight the Honda FCEV due for public consumption next year, we're told VW executives have put a four-door, four-seater version of the XL1 - it could be called XL2 - on the drawing board. The impetus is said to come from the top, with VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch intent on staying in the deep end of "super-efficent vehicles."
Autocar suspects the necessary changes could raise the weight of the car from 1,749 pounds to 2,068 pounds, which would make it four pounds less than the 2,072-pound Up! we drove a few years ago. Crucially, however, the mag thinks the extra capacity wouldn't change the two-seater's 310-mile-per-gallon rating, with tech tweaks and the aerodynamic benefit of a longer car offsetting the weight. Speculation is that the back seats would be staggered like the fronts in order to maintain the XL1's overall profile.
We recently heard about another XL1 variant that's gone off the radar entirely, the Ducati-engined XLR that we thought we'd see at the Geneva Motor Show and that was said to be going into production, so this one could go the same way. The biggest hurdle to making such an idea a reality, though, could be the price: the current XL1 costs 110,000 euros ($146,116). If VW really is going to compete with the Honda FCEV and the Toyota FCV - $70,000 in Japan - that might be where it wants to start.

VW budget sub-brand stuck in limbo over VW standards, costs

Reports in October 2012 claimed Volkswagen had begun investigating the creation of its own budget brand. This came after having failed to purchase Malaysian car company Proton or produce a meaningful partnership with Suzuki, and after watching Renault-Nissan make piles of euro on Dacia and plot the return of Datsun.
For VW, more important than the question of what to call it was how to build it profitably and in a way that didn't damage the VW brand. According to a report in Autocar, a satisfactory answer still hasn't been found. The hurdle is how to hit "'necessary' quality and safety levels" at the price points needed to make the venture worthwhile. At the time of the 2012 report, German outlet Der Spiegel said VW was trying to get prices down to 6,000 to 8,000 euro ($7,784 to $10,379 US), about two thousand to four thousand euro under the price of the VW Up and in line with the cost of a 6,790-euro Dacia Sandero in Germany.
In March 2013, VW announced, "We want to bring a true budget car to the market in China in the foreseeable future," the most concrete move in that direction after years of planning to make a decision. Working with local Chinese maker FAW, it was predicted that the vehicle in question would appear around 2016, but as of November last year a final vote on it needed to wait until this year because "We are still working on the cost side" and profit possibilities for a car that "has to be durable, it has to be precise, it has to be safe."

VW Golf GTD wagon makes us swoon ahead of Geneva reveal

The European market is just crammed with power wagons we can't get our hands on: big ones like the Audi RS6 Avant and Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, but also little ones like the new Mercedes CLA45 AMG Shooting Brake, Skoda Octavia RS and Seat Leon ST Cupra. Now there'll be one more, and as you might have guessed, it comes from the Volkswagen Group. At the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, VW will present the new Golf GTD Variant. And if you're wondering what it's all about, it's all right there in the name: those three letters tell us it's a performance diesel, and the Variant name tells us it's a wagon (which we'd more readily recognize as the SportWagen on this side of the Atlantic). So there you have it: a performance-oriented diesel wagon, but not one we're never likely to see on American roads. If you ever did see one up close, though, you'd find a 2.0-liter turbodiesel four under the hood with 181 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque – enough to send this nimble oil tanker to 62 in 7.9 seconds, all the while returning over 53 miles per gallon (on the lenient European cycle, anyway). Along with the engine, VW has thrown in other GTD performance-minded bits, including a sports suspension and progressive steering. Visual telltales include unique front and rear bumpers, grilles, 17-inch alloys, blacked-out roof rails, smoked taillight lenses and an interior with plaid sports seats, stainless steel pedals... the works. European buyers will be able to enjoy all this and more while hauling all their stuff down the Autobahn, passing gas station after gas station in oil-burning bliss. World premiere of the new Golf GTD Variant - The perfect all-round package: sporty, economical, comfortable and spacious - Launch set for Geneva Motor Show Since 1982 Volkswagen's GTD logo has stood for Gran Turismo Diesel, with its promise of sporty yet economical motoring. Now for the first time, the GTD initials grace the Golf Variant, which like the Golf GTD, boasts the 184 PS (135 kW) TDI engine. The new Golf GTD Variant is set for its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show, and is available to order as of now at a price of 31,975 euros. The Golf GTD Variant* is excellently placed to establish itself as an iconic long-distance cruiser.