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VW won't let emissions scandal keep it from racing

The Volkswagen Group may have its hands full dealing with the diesel emissions scandal. But that doesn't mean it will be curbing its considerable racing programs. At least not in any significant way. This according to Matthias Muller, who recently moved up from his previous position as Porsche CEO to preside over the entire group. Speaking with Autosport at the World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain this past weekend, Muller emphasized the importance of racing to the company. "The motorsports programs are not in danger of being dropped or significantly reduced because motorsports is very important for the group and the brands," said Muller. "Basically we do not question our motorsport efforts." Of all the brands under the group's umbrella, several have prominent, top-level factory works racing programs, and others support customer racing teams. The Volkswagen brand has emerged as the dominant force in the World Rally Championship, securing both titles over the past three years. Both Porsche and Audi compete in the top tier at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship, trading places in the winner's circle. Audi also competes in DTM, and alongside Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche, and also offers GT3 and GTE racing cars to private customers. Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi, and Seat (once the leader in touring cars) all run their own spec racing series as well. Skoda continues to compete in lower-level rallying, leaving only Bugatti to draw on its prominent pre-war grand prix racing history. To hear Muller tell it, those racing programs – or at least the top-levels ones among them – aren't going away anytime soon. But there may still be some tweaks here and there, and we shouldn't expect any new programs to be launched in the near future. Porsche, for example, is anticipated to wind down its factory involvement in GT racing, after winning both the drivers' and manufacturers' titles in the WEC GTE Pro class this year in addition to its LMP1 victories. Instead it will focus on preparing new racing versions of the 911 for client racing teams. The auto giant was also reportedly close to branching out into Formula One in partnership with Red Bull. But after negotiations were interrupted by emergence of the diesel emissions scandal, that deal fell apart. It remains unknown which brand might have been represented in the F1 engine-supply program.

2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid sharpens up to defend its titles

Porsche made a clean sweep of LMP1 racing last season, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the FIA World Endurance Championship for both drivers and manufacturers. And now that it's back on top of the podium, it's not about to step down again without putting up a fight. To that end, witness the newly revised 919 Hybrid. Revealed ahead of the season's start with the Prologue event at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, the 2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid is an evolution of the version that debuted in 2014 and trounced the competition in 2015. But Audi and Toyota – with their similarly revised R18 and TS050 – will be at least as hungry this year to dethrone Porsche as Porsche will be to retain its titles, so the racing engineers in Weissach have made made a number of revisions. The chassis and basic engine architecture, of course, are the same, with a two-liter turbocharged V4 assisted by a brake energy recovery system at the front and exhaust energy recuperation at the back. But the engine now uses less fuel, so it can run longer between pit stops – a vital element of the strategy when racing for hours on end. The aerodynamics were made more adjustable so that the team can switch between three packages depending on the type of track they're running. While they were at it, those notoriously exacting German engineers managed to cut some excess weight out as well. And instead of the three different color liveries like last year, this season the 919 Hybrid will run under a common livery of black, white, and red – which hopefully won't get mixed up with those of its rivals from Audi and Toyota. We guess we'll all find out when the season kicks off in earnest at Silverstone in mid-April. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. FIA World Endurance Championship WEC, LMP1 Ready for title defence: the new Porsche 919 Hybrid Stuttgart. World debut of the new 919 Hybrid: Two days before the official Prologue for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Paul Ricard, France, Porsche is presenting its race car for this season. Strong development characterises the new 919 Hybrid' technology. The powertrain became even more efficient, the aerodynamics were even more specific for the various race tracks and the weight of single components was even more reduced. "The over 900 hp strong Le Mans Prototype is ready for the title defence," said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1.

Dealers mobilize to protect their margins from automaker subscription services

Six individual auto brands — Lincoln, Cadillac, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo — have established or are trialing a vehicle subscription service in the U.S. Three third-party companies — Flexdrive, Clutch and Carma — run brand-agnostic subscription services. And three automakers — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and General Motors — have also launched short-term rental services. Dealers, afraid of how these trends might affect their margins, are building political and lawmaking campaigns to protect their revenue streams. So far, three states are investigating automaker subscriptions, and Indiana has banned any such service until next year. It's certain that those three states are the first fronts in a long political and legal battle. Powerful dealer franchise laws mandate the existence of dealers and restrict how automakers are allowed to interact with customers to sell a vehicle. On top of that, Bob Reisner, CEO of Nassau Business Funding & Services, said, "Dealers and their associations are among the strongest political operators in many states. They as a group are difficult for state politicians to vote against." In California earlier this year, the state Assembly debated a bill with wide-ranging provisions to protect against what the California New Car Dealers Association called "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." One of those provisions stipulated that subscription services need to go through dealers, but that item got stripped out when dealers and manufacturers agreed to discuss the matter further. In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a moratorium on all subscription programs by dealers or manufacturers until May 1, 2019, to give legislators more time to investigate. Dealers in New Jersey have taken their campaign to the state capitol, asking that the cars in subscription programs get a different classification for registration purposes. Automakers run the current subscription services and own the vehicles. Sign-ups and financial transactions happen online or through apps, leaving dealers to do little more than act as fulfillment centers to various degrees, with little legal recourse as to compensation amounts when they're called on to deliver or service a car. That's a bad base to build on for business owners who've sunk millions of dollars into their operations.