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Weekly Recap: Diesel scandal continues to fuel VW's woes

Volkswagen's woes continued this week when it was delisted from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and stripped of awards. Senators are also lining up to advocate for criminal and civil action against the automaker, and its consumer reputation is in tatters. Put simply, it's been another rough period for VW. Despite this, the company eked out a sales gain of less than one percent in September, though that was well behind the overall market's performance. Sister brand Audi, which sells a diesel A3, was less affected, posting a 16-percent gain in September. Revelations that Volkswagen rigged millions of diesel-powered cars around the world didn't surface until September 18, so the full sales impact of the ongoing scandal won't likely be felt until October. Meanwhile, VW's image continues to take a beating, and an AutoPacific survey found only one in 14 vehicle owners have a positive opinion of the company. Before the scandal broke, three-quarters of respondents had a positive view of VW. The survey also found 64 percent don't trust Volkswagen, though the same number believe other companies are or may also be using cheating devices to pass emissions tests. "The reputation of diesels has been severely damaged, at least for the short term," Ed Kim, AutoPacific's vice president of industry analysis, said in a statement. Despite the lingering malaise, experts believe VW will recover, just as Toyota and General Motors eventually emerged from their own high-profile controversies. "Consumers have proven through numerous recalls that they are resilient and quickly return to their buying habits," Kim said. OTHER NEWS & NOTES Mazda to reveal sports car concept in Tokyo Mazda will bring a curvy sports car concept to the Tokyo Motor Show in October. The automaker is being especially coy with the details, only releasing the dark teaser shot that you see to the right and a cryptic statement that suggests the concept "condense[s] Mazda's entire history of sports-car development into a single model." Immediately, speculation abounded this is an RX-7 and RX-8 successor, though Mazda didn't specify what engine the concept will have. Reportedly, the company is still working on rotary engines. Mazda will have a Cosmo Sport 110S on its stand in Tokyo, which pioneered rotary technology in 1967. Read into that what you will. The Rock pitches Ford service Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, is the new frontman for Ford service.

2015 will be the biggest year ever for cars at CES

Like the SEMA Show, major automakers are paying increasing attention to the CES, with 2015 expected to be one of the most auto focused yet. Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will all be in attendance when CES 2015 kicks off next week, taking up a record-breaking 165,000 square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center. "We've come a long way from a single car on a carpet," Ford's Alan Hall told Bloomberg. Unlike SEMA, or a more traditional auto show, like the upcoming festivities in Detroit, CES doesn't necessarily focus on entire cars or the way they perform, but on the way our technology will interact with vehicles, and in how those vehicles will deliver information to drivers. "CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," IHS tech analyst Mark Boyadjis told Bloomberg. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology." As for what kind of wares automakers will trot out in Las Vegas, we already know that BMW will show off an autonomous i3 electric car that can navigate its way through a multistory car park and can be hailed via a smartwatch app. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai will show off its own smartwatch app for the Genesis sedan, while Audi and Mercedes-Benz will show off autonomous vehicles next week. Automakers won't be the only companies looking to capitalize on CES. Tech firms, like chipmaker Nvidia, are becoming increasingly involved in the automotive game and will be in town showing their wares off to OEMs. "Two years ago, our booth would have been filled with PCs and people playing video games," Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director for automotive business, told Bloomberg. "This year we made a strategic decision to shift the focus of the booth on automotive and de-prioritize some of the other things." Needless to say, you can expect to see a lot of news out of Las Vegas come next week. Stay tuned. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Julie Jacobson / AP CES Audi BMW Chrysler Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Mazda Toyota Volkswagen Technology CES 2015

VW announces reworked 6.0 W12 TSI engine

Nobody makes more engines with a dozen cylinders than the Volkswagen Group. They're W12s, of course, owing to the novel shape of their cylinder banks. Now the German industrial giant has announced a comprehensively reworked version of that engine at the same Vienna Motor Symposium where it presented its new 2.0-liter turbo four. The new W12 retains the same arrangement and the same 6.0-liter displacement, but updates it all with the latest powertrain tech. In place of Audi's FSI direct injection and Bentley's TMPI multi-point injection, the engine has adopted a new TSI system. It's also got a pair of new twin-scroll turbochargers, APS-coated cylinders, a new cooling system, active engine mounts, cylinder deactivation, and a stop/start system. And – crucially for application in the upcoming Bentayga – it has an oil circuit designed for off-road use. The revised package now produces 600 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Considerably more than the 567 hp and 516 lb-ft offered in the Bentley Continental GT W12, but less than the GT Speed, which we suspect will get an even more powerful version of this new engine. It's also more powerful than even the top version of Audi and Bentley's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, to make the W12 a more compelling option. Of course that's just as far as the Continental GT is concerned. The W12 has also found use in the Continental GTC and Flying Spur, as well as the Volkswagen Phaeton and Audi A8, and could find further applications under the Flying B emblem and elsewhere in the future. VW says that in the right application (say, in the production version of the Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 concept, for example), the new twelve-pot could deliver 0-62 times of under four seconds and a top speed in excess of 186 miles per hour. Volkswagen at the 36th International Vienna Motor Symposium Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser: "The car of the future will continue to fascinate people" - CO2 reduction, electromobility and digitalisation are the greatest challenges facing the automotive industry - The future of the internal combustion engine will be characterised by high rpm diesel and high-performance three-cylinder TSI engines - Laser roughening – innovative coating process in large-scale production - New 6.0 W12 TSI with 447 kW (608 PS) – performance and refinement - New generation of EU6 TDI engines for light-duty vehicles Dr.