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2015 VW Golf R ready for your pre-order on January 8

If you want to be the first person on your block with Volkswagen's latest Golf R parked in your garage, you need to clear some time from your schedule on January 8. On that day, VW is opening the pre-order books for the first 500 Stateside examples of the new hot hatch, and they come with some neat accessories, too. Don't worry about specing just the right Golf R because all 500 early models are identical. In addition to the obvious 2.0-liter turbocharged engine with 292 horsepower 280 pound-feet of torque and 4Motion all-wheel drive, the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox is the only option here. Every one of these hot hatches comes in Lapiz Blue Metallic paint with 19-inch wheels covered in summer performance tires. Based around the DCC and Nav trim, each of them also has VW's adaptive damper system, bi-xenon headlights with LED running lights, a Fender audio system, parking sensors and navigation. Beyond just being the first ones to own VW's latest hot hatch in the US, the deal for these 500 folks also includes a Volkswagen R watch, carbon fiber and stainless steel keychain and a certificate. All three items are serialized to match the VIN of the buyer's Golf R. The total price for each one of these 500 Golf R's is $39,090, plus $820 destination and delivery. But potential buyers don't have to come up with all of that on January 8. They just need to visit VW's Golf R site and pay a $500 reservation fee to get in line, which goes toward the purchase of the car. The money is refundable for anyone who backs out, and any additional orders are put on a waiting list in case of any cancelations.

This Or That: 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro vs. 1987 Land Rover Defender [w/poll]

As I scoured auction sites and classified ads for the perfect vehicle to take into battle with Autoblog Associate Editor Brandon Turkus, I knew I needed to find something unique. You see, I'm currently 0-2 at winning a round of This or That, in which two of our editors agree on a category, choose a side, and argue it out over a (mostly) friendly chain of emails.
The first time we did this, my chosen Fiat 500 Abarth took about a third of the popular vote in our reader poll. The second time, my lovely 1980 Oldsmobile 442 did just a little bit better against a 1989 BMW 635 CSi. Despite holding the opinion that my automotive choices, though perhaps a little bit more... obscure than my fellow editors, are still better, an outright win would go a long way toward boosting my vehicular self worth a few notches upward.
With all of that out of the way, even if three isn't my lucky number after all, I go into battle against Brandon knowing full well that I've made the perfect choice: A 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro. My rough-and-tumble van/'ute has a formidable opponent in the form of a 1987 Land Rover Defender, which, truth be told, is exactly what I was expecting from Turkus, a self-proclaimed Rover aficionado.

Audi spending an additional $2.5 billion on expansion through 2019

Every year, it seems the Volkswagen Group announces a new and larger spend to push growth and profit, with Audi a regular recipient of the moolah. That's reasonable, seeing as hauls in 40 percent of Group operating profits. In December last year Audi said it would spend an additional 100 million euros ($122M US) per year through 2018 to develop new models and expand production, targeting 60 models by 2020 and luxury sales leadership. This month Audi said it will boost that by another two billion euros ($2.5B US) over the next five years, for a total outlay of 24 billion euros from 2014 to 2019. Something like 70 percent of those billions will be spent on new models, technology like "connectivity and lightweight construction," and factory expansion at its plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. Most of the ten models that will plump the lineup to 60 cars will mainly be aimed at the C and D segments, as well as crossovers, the brand's burgeoning portfolio of PHEV models, and all-electric cars that will begin staking ground in the segment. The big spend comes at the same time as Audi is working hard to reduce costs by $2.5 billion to maintain profitability, part of a larger push by VW to cut costs by $6.1 billion by 2017. More than a billion euros will go to new factories in Mexico and Brazil. Work begins on the Mexico plant next year, and when it comes on-line in 2016, Audi's Q5 successor will roll out of its warehouse doors; Audi has already announced it will hire 850 more workers next year in Mexico. When that's done, Mexico's production of German luxury cars will only trail that of Germany, China and the US. The company's Brazil plant will produce the A3 and S3 starting next year, and the brand figures luxury car buying there will triple by 2017. News Source: Reuters Earnings/Financials Plants/Manufacturing Audi Volkswagen Luxury Mexico Brazil ulrich hackenberg