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EV Profits Still Playing Catch-Up It’s no secret that automakers are barely making a profit on electric vehicles, with Ford even ending production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning. But they still have to build them for a range of reasons, including regulatory requirements. At Volkswagen, the company admitted that there is no profit margin parity between EVs and combustion cars – at least not until the next-gen SSP architecture arrives. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen’s EV models deli

The Volkswagen Atlas is getting a little long in the tooth, but new spy shots show that the three-row midsize SUV is almost ready for revitalization. First introduced in 2017, the Atlas was refreshed in 2021 and again in 2024, and now it's preparing for another major update that will be revealed later this year. Volkswagen recently provided a first look at the 2027 Atlas in a colorful camouflage wrap, and these new spy shots show a prototype with similarly deceptive camouflage over the front and

An Icon That Could've Been Replaced in the '60s Much has been said about the Volkswagen Beetle and its long and illustrious history. Anyone somewhat knowledgeable about automotive history would know that the Beetle story dates back to the Second World War. If it weren't for British Major Ivan, who spotted a Type 1 prototype amidst the rubble of the Volkswagen plant, the entire German automotive industry probably wouldn't have become the powerhouse it eventually became. The Type 1 would eventuall

Volkswagen likes to think of itself as the creator of the "People's Car," yet it followed the industry into the over-digitalization of car interiors, a mistake it's now fixing with a new generation of cars that will bring back physical buttons. Several factors were at play for this misstep, one of which appears to have been VW's old CEO, Herbert Diess, who had a different impact than some of his predecessors. Fortunately, current CEO Thomas Schäfer seems to have a better grasp of what customers

Volkswagen has started production of the new ID.Unyx 08 electric SUV in Hefei, eastern China, and while we lost count of how many China-only models VW is selling these days, this one is really important. That’s because the ID.Unyx 08 is Volkswagen’s first fully-connected, full-size battery electric SUV that features an 800-volt electrical architecture, as well as the first VW EV based on a third-party platform. Volkswagen

There's been a lot of talk about a new electric Golf over the last few years, potentially even as a replacement for the combustion version. Volkswagen is no longer talking about it as a replacement, instead saying an electric and a gas Golf will coexist, with the latter recently becoming a hybrid and the former being delayed. The delay was reportedly due to budget constraints that would come under too much additional pressure if EV-building upgrades to the Wolfsburg plant were to go ahead. But n

It's tough not to associate news about Volkswagen and emissions with the Dieselgate scandal, but on the latest occasion, the automaker may be in trouble with the authorities for reasons that are not its own making, at least not directly. As reported by Motor1, Volkswagen could be forced to pay as much as $1.75 billion in fines because its EVs haven't been as popular as necessary for the automaker to meet overall emissions targets, and that leaves VW in a serious predicament. It needs to sell EVs

A New Mission for a German Factory Volkswagen is no stranger to the military sector, and the automaker is now exploring the possibility of producing military vehicles at its Osnabrück factory in Germany. According to Reuters, VW recently showcased two military vehicle concepts as it gauges interest from defense buyers that could help keep the plant operating. The Osnabrück factory currently employs about 2,300 people and produces the T-Roc Cabriolet, a convertible subcompact crossover SUV that w

VW Slashes Output Again Volkswagen AG is doubling down on austerity. CEO Oliver Blume, in an interview with Manager Magazine, confirmed the group will cut another one million units of annual production capacity, bringing its global ceiling down from a once-ambitious 12 million cars to roughly 9 million. The move reflects a stark mismatch between output potential and real-world demand, with the company struggling to consistently exceed 10 million in annual sales since 2020. The capacity cuts inev

Slow-Selling Electric VWs As of September 2025, Volkswagen's slowest sellers are the performance models, the Golf GTI and Golf R (5,700 and 2,684 units, respectively), and its EVs, the ID.4 and ID. Buzz (22,125 and 4,934 units, respectively). Clearly, demand for battery-electric Volkswagens isn't there in America, and the automaker may have a solution: range-extended EVs. Range-extended EVs sit between pure electrics and traditional hybrids. You drive on battery power most of the time, but there

A Bold Report A recent story from the Financial Times has stirred up rather interesting headlines for the last few days. It was said that Volkswagen is considering a deal with an Israeli defense company to build components for the Iron Dome. Europe's largest automaker is allegedly in talks with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is a state-owned company that was founded as Israel's National R&D Defense Laboratory. The report claims several people close to the ma

Back in 2007, in a moment of because-we-can silliness that mass market car companies could only justify in those heady pre-financial crash days, Volkswagen decided to stuff one of its almighty W12 engines into the middle of a fifth-generation Golf GTI for a one-off show car. Why? Partly, it was a treat for GTI fans attending the now-dead GTI Treffen fan gathering in Wörthersee, Austria that year, but mainly, we suspect it was because some VW engineers had some free time and a spare W12 sitting a

Before the EV Era The Volkswagen Golf has played just about every role you can imagine: practical hatchback, hot hatch, diesel workhorse, plug-in hybrid, and even performance icon as the GTI and R. The next big leap is the all-electric ID. Golf, already teased as part of Volkswagen’s EV roadmap. But before the Golf goes fully electric, there’s one more chapter to add. Enter the new Golf Hybrid: Volkswagen’s first full hybrid take on its iconic hatchback. It lands alongside the T-Roc Hybrid and s

A few years ago, the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Honda Civic Type R were regularly trading blows in the battle for front-wheel-drive production car supremacy at the Nürburgring, but the fight cooled three years ago when the Civic Type R set a time of 7:44.881. The Golf GTI Edition 50 returned to the Nordschleife last year to become the fastest VW ever to take on the Green Hell, but its time of 7:46.13 still wasn't enough to take the outright FWD record, so Volkswagen has had another crack, and t

VW's Healing Era? The last couple of years have been rough on Volkswagen. Declining sales, loss of market share, and models that alienated the VW faithful and left critics underwhelmed heavily hampered the brand's efforts. But since the present CEO, Thomas Schäfer, joined the board in 2022, he's promised to steer the company back on the right course. That said, change isn't overnight, but we are seeing some of the corrective measures being applied little by little. More recently, the ID.3 Neo go

Everybody loves a hardcore Volkswagen Golf, and the latest is designed to seek blood at one of the most demanding racetracks in the world: the Nürburgring. Volkswagen has revealed a show car previewing its radical new racer that will race at the 2027 24 Hours of Nürburgring, and the interesting thing about this car is that, like the Golf R you and I can buy and drive, this will send its power to all four wheels. To help achieve that goal and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the R brand, the Vol

Volkswagen Group has increased its stake in Rivian Automotive to 15.9%, becoming its largest shareholder ahead of Amazon, which had been the top investor in the EV maker ever since its 2021 IPO. According to an SEC filing, Volkswagen’s US subsidiary has purchased 62.9 million new shares on April 30 at $15.90 per share, spending a total of approximately $1 billion in the process. You may be aware that Volkswagen Group is not doing great at the moment, and in light of that, the investment may seem

A Milestone Years in the Making Despite facing headwinds in the EV space, the Volkswagen Group has reached a global milestone by producing five million electric drive units. The achievement is spread across the company’s plants in Győr, Kassel, Tianjin, and Zuffenhausen, with the Kassel facility alone producing around 850,000 units last year – a 24 percent year-on-year increase. These electric drive units are used across the Volkswagen Group’s brands, including Volkswagen, Škoda, and Cupra—the l

With the Volkswagen ID Buzz and Audi A6 E-Tron skipping a model year in the US and the ID7 cancelled for the North American market altogether, it would be easy to assume that the Volkswagen Group is facing the same struggles selling electric cars as plenty of other brands – and that, to some extent, is true. However, following news just a few days ago that the VW brand has sold its 2 millionth all-electric car, the wider group has celebrated another major EV moment: across its entire portfolio o

Volkswagen has just delivered its 2 millionth all-electric vehicle, another marker in the company’s shift away from combustion engines. While the brand experimented with electric vans as far back as the 1970s, its modern EV push only really began in the early 2010s. Since then, the lineup has expanded quickly and reached buyers around the world. While impressive, Volkswagen can't compete with the Chinese carmaker BYD. ID Models Drive The Volume

The Pricing Finally Makes More Sense When Volkswagen finally launched the ID. Buzz in America, the reaction was a bit mixed. People still loved the idea of a modern electric Microbus, especially one that looked this close to the original Type 2. But once pricing entered the conversation, enthusiasm cooled off pretty quickly. The ID. Buzz started at over $60,000 in the US, which made it a tough sell for buyers expecting something more approachable from a vehicle built largely on nostalgia. That b

The ID.Polo's Time to Shine For the longest time, it was the Golf that got most of the sweet high-performance treatment from Volkswagen. There have been countless over the years, and we're not just talking about GTIs and Rs. As for the Polo, there have been few and far between. Some shining examples include the GT and G40, and let's not forget how it bagged four straight World Rally Championship titles for Volkswagen. Given its success in motorsport, one would think there would be a turbocharged

In 1976, the first-ever GTI appeared and would go on to set the standard for fun, affordable motoring. 50 years later, the first all-electric GTI aims to do the same. Volkswagen has revealed the ID. Polo GTI at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where its wildest Golf yet will compete next year, and it looks like a lot of fun. On the front axle, a single electric motor produces 223 horsepower and 214 lb-ft of torque, enough to get from 0-62 mph in 6.8 seconds and up to a top speed of 109 mph. Yes, tha

Volkswagen’s newest China-only electric SUV, the ID.Unyx 08, is aiming squarely at domestic rivals with big range numbers and fast-charging tech the brand hasn’t yet rolled out in the U.S. The mid-to-large electric SUV will offer up to 730 kilometers (about 453 miles) of CLTC range and an 800-volt architecture, positioning it as the tech flagship of VW’s ID.UNYX sub-brand. Up To

The Scout Direct Sales Drama To say that dealers don't like direct-to-consumer sales is a massive understatement. Of course, the main reason is that it has the potential to put them out of business. With that, dealers have been filing case after case against Volkswagen of America for its direct sales plan for Scout Motors. Talk about birthing pains. If anything, the cases filed so far have been attracting far more attention to the brand than Scout's actual products. There have been a few wins fo