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Automakers score 8 out of top 20 most-watched ads on YouTube [w/videos]

Who would have ever thought there'd be a day where people are able to skip television commercials only to go to websites to watch them later? Such is the joy of a DVR and YouTube. AdWeek tabulated the 20 most-watched ads on YouTube, and found that nine were car-related including eight coming from automakers.
Volkswagen continued its Star Wars theme with two ads in the top 20, including the highest-ranking car commercial The Bark Side spot at number three with almost 18 million views, which doesn't even have a single car in it. Some of our favorites are from Chrysler with Clint Eastwood in It's Halftime in America and House Arrest with Charlie Sheen for the Fiat 500 Abarth. Chevrolet, Honda, Audi and Toyota were the other automakers in the top 20, but we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention one of the coolest ads on the list, the Hot Wheels corkscrew jump.
Of all the car videos, only the Fiat ad wasn't played during a Super Bowl. Check out all eight videos - in order - after the jump. Nike took the top spot with its My Time is Now ad that has been seen online more than 20 million times with Pepsi's Uncle Drew posted up in the runner-up; some of the other videos include four Old Spice commercials and an ad in which Snoop Dogg is pedaling Hot Pockets.

VW stock plummets as Euro markets open

The fallout from Volkswagen's installation of an emissions "defeat device" on nearly 500,000 diesel-fueled models in the US is already hitting the automaker hard on the German stock exchange. At one point, the share price plummeted 23 percent to erase the equivalent of $17.6 billion in value. Things eventually bounced back slightly to a still severe 19.23 percent loss, according to Bloomberg as of this writing. The scandal couldn't come at a worse time for chairman Martin Winterkorn. The VW supervisory board takes up the issue of renewing his contract on September 25, Bloomberg reports. If things get bad enough, the door could be open for a new boss to step in. Dealers in the US might start feeling the pain from this, as well. Affected 2015 VWs that are still at showrooms are now under a stop sale. Until the issue is straightened out, the Environmental Protection Agency isn't certifying the company's 2016 diesel models with the 2.0 TDI, either. The diesel emissions problem was first discovered by research from West Virginia University and the International Council on Clean Transportation. In some cases, the engines can produce 40 times more nitrogen oxides than allowed. The automaker could be on the hook for $18 billion in fines for the breach, but the actual figure is expected to be lower. In response, Winterkorn has issued a public apology and ordered an independent investigation into what happened. The EPA and California Air Resources Board have also been looking into the situation. This could become an international problem, though. According to The Detroit News, European authorities might begin similar inquires to check the automaker's diesel emissions there.

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