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Tanner Foust checks out his new VW Beetle GRC rally car

Racing driver and Top Gear USA host Tanner Foust is a very busy guy. After all, he's competing in rounds of both Global Rallycross series and FIA World Rallycross Championship, not to mention his TV duties. However, we probably shouldn't feel too sorry for him, because his job puts him behind the wheel of some truly crazy machinery.
Case in point is his latest ride in Global Rallycross - the Volkswagen Beetle GRC. The German company claims that this all-wheel drive Bug makes around 540 horsepower from its 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and can shoot to 60 in under 2 seconds. Plus, if this video is any indication, this Volkswagen sounds like a machine gun when throwing revs at idle, and it can do some wonderfully easy four-wheel drifts.
Previously, Foust was driving a VW Polo for Andretti Autosport in GRC, but the team unveiled the look of the Beetle GRC at the Chicago Auto Show. Now, Foust is finally getting to show off his new office to the public, and like VW's tagline for the new car claims, it's way hotter than Herbie.

VW adding particulate filters to gas engines

Volkswagen is working hard to overcome the PR disaster that is its diesel emissions scandal, and part of its efforts is focusing, weirdly, on petrol engines. Starting in June 2017, the embattled German automaker will add particulate filters to the gas-powered Volkswagen Tiguan and Audi A5. The change will eventually impact nearly every direct-injected gas engine the VW Group makes. Audi? Particulate filter. Seat? Particulate filter. Even Bentley is going to get the tech, all in a bid to reduce soot emissions by 90 percent. In fact, by 2022 VAG expects 7 million of its vehicles to boast the emissions-cleaning tech, which has long been a fixture on diesel engines. "Following increases in efficiency and lower CO2 output, we are now bringing about a sustained reduction in the emission levels of our modern petrol engines by fitting particulate filters as standard," Volkswagen Group research and design boss Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn said in a statement. "In the future, all models will be equipped with the latest and most efficient SCR catalytic converter technology." VW's initial rollout focuses on the 1.4-liter, turbocharged Tiguan and the 2.0-liter, turbocharged A5. Considering the popularity of the 2.0-liter across the VW range, we'd expect it's only a matter of time before VW expands its particulate filters tech to additional gas-powered vehicles. Related Video:

EU formally questions French government assistance of Peugeot's finance arm

Recently, the finance arm of PSA/Peugeot-Citroën was in such debt trouble that it was pricing itself out of the car loan market. The rates it was paying to service its debt, which was rated one step above junk, were so high that it was forced to charge car-buying customers higher rates than they could find elsewhere. This was adding to Peugeot's already impressive woes by sending revenue out the door to competitors.
Two months ago a deal was worked out with the French government whereby the state would provide 7 billion euro ($9 billion USD) in bonds to guarantee the finance arm's loans. The French government could nominate someone to join the Peugeot board, Peugeot would guarantee more French jobs, and on top of that deal, other banks would provide non-guaranteed loans. The government would take no equity stake in the car company.
Although not yet finalized, the arrangement is meant to create some breathing room for Peugeot Finance to lower its interest rates for customers, and a government-nominated board member, Louis Gallois, was recently named to Peugeot's supervisory board. The arrangement was also openly questioned by at least three competitors: Ford, Renault - which is 15-percent owned by the French government after it received state aid - and the German state of Lower Saxony, itself a 15-percent shareholder in Volkswagen.