2003 Volkswagen Beetle Turbo S Hatchback 2-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

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VW will need to recall 323,700 diesel vehicles in India

Volkswagen Group's diesel emissions scandal continues to spread, and now the automaker must recall 323,700 diesel vehicles in India because of too much pollution, according to Bloomberg. The campaign covers models from several of the group's brands including VW, Audi, and Skoda. The Automotive Research Association of India first discovered the emissions irregularities after conducting its own real world and lab tests, and the Indian government then commanded VW to explain what was happening. The country's regulators will allow the automaker to set the recall schedule for the repairs, according to a government official who spoke to Bloomberg, and the campaign will likely happen in phases. Among the affected vehicles, there will be about 100,000 from the VW brand including the Jetta, Passat, and some variants of the Polo. VW already has repairs for some of the affected diesel engines in Europe, and the company can allegedly fix the emissions problem with new software and small hardware changes. The situation is harder in the US where regulators still need to approve any proposed solutions, and VW also must now recall its 3.0-liter V6 TDI in California to eliminate other problematic code. The German automaker faces investigations from regulators all over the world into its emissions evasions, and they could be quite costly. One estimate already suggests the minimum price of the potential repairs, fines, and other expenses at about $24.5 billion. Officials in Brazil have already fined the company $13 million for pollution issues with the diesel Amarok pickup and requested a recall to fix them.

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 revealed, plus driving the BMW M8 Convertible | Autoblog Podcast #632

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. Before they get to this week's big news, they talk about the cars they've been driving, including the Toyota Land Cruiser, Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition, BMW M8 Convertible and BMW 840i coupe. Then they talk about Ford's big reveal of the 2021 Mustang Mach 1. Finally, in lieu of the regular Spend My Money segment, they talk about how Joel recently spent his own money on the newest edition to his personal fleet, a 2013 Volkswagen Beetle. Autoblog Podcast #632 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser 2020 Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography 2020 BMW M8 Convertible 2020 BMW 840i Fords reveals 2021 Mustang Mach 1 Spend Joel's Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

VW going turbo-only in 3 to 4 years

This really was a matter of when, rather than if. Volkswagen will apparently be the first manufacturer to phase out naturally aspirated engines in favor of turbocharging its full slate. VW is kind of responsible for ushering in this push towards small-displacement, turbocharged engines that's taken the industry by storm. When it dropped its direct-injection, 2.0-liter turbo in the 2005 GTI it demonstrated that strapping an iron long to an engine can enhance the powertrain as a whole. VW made fuel economy gains, while also giving a linear, non-laggy turbo experience that it has replicated, model-after-model, to this day.
Speaking with The Detroit News, Volkswagen's executive Vice President of Group Quality, Marc Trahan, told the paper that, "We only have one normally aspirated gas engine, and when we go to the next generation vehicle that it's in, it will be replaced. So three, four years maximum."
Really, it's hard to get teary-eyed about either of these engines going away. VW has access to smaller powerplants that could easily match the performance of the 2.5 five-cylinder and the 3.6 V6, while gobbling up less fuel and providing a better driving experience. What we are sad about is that a similar statement about the extinction of NA engines came from the Vice President of Powertrain Engineering at Ford, Joe Bakaj. We'd certainly get teary-eyed over a world without Ford's excellent 5.0-liter V8.