1977 Volkswagen Bus (transporter) on 2040-cars

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World Car Of The Year down to its final four

Judges for the World Car of the Year Award have narrowed down the finalists to just four vehicles. Out of a total of 42 entries, only the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT-86 and Volkswagen Golf remain standing. For Volkswagen, this marks the second consecutive year the company has had an entry among the finalists, and the fourth time since 2009. In order to qualify, a vehicle must be on sale on two continents during the span of time between January 1, 2013 and May 30, 2013. A panel of 66 journalists from 23 countries then vote on the finalists.
Three vehicles have made the cut for the last round of voting on the 2013 World Performance Car as well, with the Cayman/Boxster and FR-S/BRZ/GT-86 running against the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. Meanwhile, the Renault Zoe, Tesla Model S and Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid are duking it out for the World Green Car Award. Finally, the World Car Design of the Year Award is up for grabs between the Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar F-Type, and the Mazda6. Check out the full press release below. Overall winners will be presented at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

VW Up Buggy may be headed to showrooms

Volkswagen showed six conceptual takes on its Up at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, one of those being the Up Buggy. Although few will probably remember it, VW has not forgotten it, applying for a patent for the Meyers Manx revival roadster way back in March 2012 and being approved in June of this year, according to a report in Autocar. That will give the automaker a 14-year lock on the design while it decides whether to move forward with a reboot of its past.
A patent doesn't mean the Up Buggy will ever move beyond the sheet-of-paper stage, but Autocar says VW is studying the market to see if a production version is feasible. We can't see North America ever getting it, but even so, we wouldn't complain if they made it - especially if they put an exposed engine in back that was set off by 18-inch-long twin tailpipes jutting straight up into the air. However, for a company that aims to be the world's number-one automaker by 2018, a niche vehicle for its mass-market brand would be a surprising use of resources.

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: