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Volkswagen unveils sportier Passat Performance Concept ahead of Detroit debut

Ahead of its official unveiling at next week's Detroit Auto Show, Volkswagen has released some preliminary details and images of its Passat Performance Concept - a car that, as its name suggests, adds a little more spice to the automaker's midsize sedan formula. VW makes no mention of any production intent for this road-ready-looking sedan, simply stating that the Performance Concept is a way to "explore this practical four-door's sportier side."
It certainly doesn't look too sporty, the only visual upgrades being larger 19-inch wheels, dual exhaust, bi-xenon headlamps with VW's Advanced Front Lighting system, LED taillmaps and carbon-look mirror caps. Inside, there are carbon interior accents and two-tone leather upholstery. But no matter, the real upgrades for this mightier Passat are found below the sheetmetal.
Powering the Performance Concept is a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, churning out 250 horsepower and sending its grunt to the ground via a six-speed automatic transmission. For reference, that's 80 more horsepower than the Passat's base 2.5-liter inline-five, but 20 horsepower less than the potent 3.6-liter VR6. As for other performance upgrades, Volkswagen has fitted the car with a lowered sport suspension and revamped electronic steering, which should indeed add a bit more dynamic feedback to the already nice-driving sedan.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Volkswagen Cross Coupe GTE concept previews new midsize CUV... again

Volkswagen has taken a big step towards the long-awaited second model to be built at its Chattanooga, TN factory, introducing the two-row Cross Coupe GTE Concept at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. The relatively handsome two-row crossover borrows its basic styling language from the CrossBlue Concept that launched at the 2013 Detroit show (that we later had a brief chance to drive), and the CrossBlue Coupe from that year's Shanghai Motor Show. To be entirely frank, it just looks like a much more production-ready version of the Shanghai concept. The more aggressive elements of that model, like its rear taillights, rounded wheel arches, and aggressive front and rear fascias, have been toned down considerably. In other words, this concept almost wouldn't look out of place on the average road. Changes in the cabin are similarly minor, with the same basic design as the CrossBlue, complemented by a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. While it's still quite clearly a concept car interior, it's not hard to imagine VW transitioning this cockpit into a production model. Riding atop the Volkswagen Group's MQB architecture – making it a relative, albeit distant, of cars like the VW Golf, Audi TT and the Euro-market Passat – the Cross Coupe GTE is motivated by a 3.6-liter VR6 that's been mated to not one, but two electric motors (one on each axle). The gas engine offers up 276 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, while the front axle's electric motor generates 54 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque, and the rear can deliver a more robust 114 hp and 199 lb-ft of torque. That cacophony can be easily boiled down to this: the Cross Coupe GTE has a total system output of 355 hp and 280 pound-feet of torque, which is good enough to get the five-seater to 60 miles per hour in six seconds, on to a top speed of 130 miles per hour. As a plug-in hybrid, though, there's more to the Cross Coupe GTE then just its power output. Range plays a big role, and in that regard, this concept is fairly average. It can cover 20 miles when its 14.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery is charged up. Beyond that, the drivetrain can be set to a number of modes to optimize the behavior of plug-in-hybrid powertrain. In E-Mode, which can be locked in via a battery hold/battery charge mode, all 20 miles of range are available, although the Cross Coupe's driver will only have the 114-hp rear axle electric motor to work with.