Community

How to help prepare for a road trip during the pandemic

After months of lockdown, everyone is itching to explore. As the weather warms up and states re-open, the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that 97% of summer travel in the United States will be done by car – totaling an estimated 683 million road trips from July to September. “Most people want to get away while trying to stay safe and distant from others. When you drive, you can travel at your own comfort level,” said Jeanette Casselano, Director of Public Relations at AAA. “You

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Community

#TBT: Formula Vee racing, a Volkswagen family tradition for five decades

Forty years after it was last sold new, the original Volkswagen Beetle can still be found on American roads, a testament to its popularity and engineering. The same holds true for American race tracks, where an important part of the Beetle legacy has only grown more popular over the years. Since its start in the early 1960s, Formula Vee racing has offered one of the most competitive and affordable forms of open-wheel racing anywhere in the world. Developed by a group of independent dealers, t

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Company

The modern way to buy a vehicle: No-touch signatures and open reviews

While America adjusts to the new normal of a world with masks and social distancing, the need for personal transportation remains – and for some, it’s stronger than ever. Yet buying a vehicle has long required in-person communication, often followed by a request to fill out a customer survey a few miles long. Over the past few months, Volkswagen has tackled both of those challenges with two new tools. Volkswagen of America and VW Credit have worked with CDK Global, Inc. to launch Sign Anywher

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Company

Putting electric vehicle charging to a high-temp test

Whether in your phone, your watch or a next-generation electric vehicle, batteries can respond differently to temperature extremes. And when you’re about to build millions of electric vehicles worldwide, engineers want to research what could happen when plugging an EV into a 350-kW DC fast charger on the hottest days. That’s why Volkswagen Group has spent the past year building one of the most advanced EV charging test sites in the world at the Arizona Proving Grounds. The 50 charging station

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Partnerships

Team Volkswagen kicks off Drive Bigger program to get charities back on the field

As the world works toward a new normal in the COVID-19 era, sports like soccer have had to adapt and try new approaches. With teams and players slowly returning to the field, the demands on soccer-related charities remain high, with programs delayed or cancelled and needs greater than ever. To help address those challenges, Volkswagen of America has worked with U.S. Soccer Men’s and Women’s National Team players who serve as brand ambassadors on Team Volkswagen. These ten ambassadors have cho

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Company

Volkswagen Group of America welcomes first ship to new Baltimore port

Volkswagen Group of America is proud to return to the port of Baltimore and welcomed its first ship Friday at its new processing facility. Covering 115 acres, the recently built distribution center at the Tradepoint Atlantic terminal will import, process and distribute about 120,000 new vehicles from Europe and Mexico each year to dealerships across the eastern United States, with plans to expand in the future. Built with an investment of about $150 million, the new VWGoA facility is expecte

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Community

Drive-in theaters experience a revival nationwide amid COVID

Drive-in movie theaters are one of the few businesses experiencing a renaissance amid the coronavirus pandemic. As one of the few entertainment destinations you can still visit outside of the home, they’ve experienced a boom in popularity and demand over the past couple months. “We’ve seen a resurgence in interest across the country. Our shows are selling out every night. It’s the best market I have ever seen in all my years in business,” says Jim Kopp, owner of The Family Drive-in Theatre i

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Vehicles

#TBT – Volkswagen Golf Country

Built in 1990, the Golf Country was an early foray into the crossover SUV category for Volkswagen and even predated the Toyota RAV4—one of the first mass-market CUVs—by four years. With just 7,735 vehicles produced in two years from 1990 to 1991, the rugged, off-road worthy Golf Mark 2 variant - with lifted suspension and all-wheel drive - is now a collectible modern classic. Volkswagen introduced the “Montana” concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 1989. At the time, the off-road Golf Mark 2 va

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Community

How Volkswagen owners are supporting COVID-19 relief efforts

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Volkswagen drivers across the nation are pitching in to help their neighbors. Community service is nothing new to Marqese Singleton, and when the pandemic hit his community in early March, he had no plans of slowing down. A parent liaison for Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School in Newark, New Jersey, Singleton has distributed free, fresh vegetables to local families every week for the past three years. On Fridays, he picks up unused produce in his white 2013 Vo

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#TBT: One million vehicles strong – three times over

  At any car factory, the one-millionth vehicle serves as a milestone of success. With Volkswagen of America’s Chattanooga plant hitting that mark last week, it’s worth looking back at some memorable moments for Volkswagen production– and what’s coming next. Sixty-five years ago this August, the one-millionth Volkswagen rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg. Following World War II, the Volkswagen factory started slowly producing the Beetle and the Bus, but by 1955 the Beetle w

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Lifestyle

#TBT: Ten movies co-starring Volkswagen classics

While many movie theaters remain closed, even as some states start to re-open this month, you can still get your film fix from home. Whether you want to watch something new or revisit an old favorite, these ten movies featuring Volkswagen models are perfect for any mood. The films are available for rent on most streaming services, so make some popcorn, dim the lights and see if you can spot these beloved cars. ‘The Love Bug’ (1968): A down-on-his-luck racecar driver and his mechanic discove

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Community

Dealerships perform acts of kindness during COVID-19 crisis

From organizing senior meal deliveries to leading donation drives, Volkswagen dealerships across the country are doing their part to help find new and inventive ways to support their neighbors during these difficult times. Below are three examples of dealerships driving something bigger in their local communities. To show their appreciation to essential workers, Auburn Volkswagen in Washington decided to come up with multiple plans to help address the growing need in their community. “My

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Community

Be inspired from home with help from MoMA

As a partner since 2011 and the lead sponsor of education since 2015, Volkswagen is proud to support the ongoing and expanded educational opportunities at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. While MoMA’s galleries are temporarily closed, the Museum has taken its programs and exhibitions online through #MuseumFromHome, a global initiative that allows the public the rare chance to view the Museum’s exhibitions and partake in an array of programs and activities from home. Wi

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Vehicles

Revealed: The next-generation Volkswagen Golf GTI, with new style and more power

The hot hatch lives on. For more than four decades, the Volkswagen Golf GTI has been the standard for affordable, European-designed performance hatchbacks. Over seven generations, more than 380,000 Americans have taken home a GTI, enjoying the mix of driving enjoyment and everyday utility that few competitors even approach. Now, Volkswagen unveiled the eighth-generation GTI, with more power and more technology than its predecessor that’s relevant to drivers worldwide. Don’t worry: there’s

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Vehicles

#TBT: The ARVW, the most aerodynamic Volkswagen ever built

Aerodynamics play a key role in every modern vehicle. The less drag a vehicle generates when moving through the air, the less energy it consumes and the more quietly it moves. Over the years, automakers have experimented with extreme vehicle shapes to demonstrate the innate relationship between drag and power. Few have been more radical than the Aerodynamic Research Volkswagen of 1980, a single-seat arrow that remains the most aerodynamic vehicle ever built with a VW badge. Sparked by the oi

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Community

A son’s 38-year quest to find and restore his father’s Type 3 fastback

Lynn Pfenning spent 38 years chasing down his father’s beloved 1967 Volkswagen Type 3 fastback and four years restoring it to its original glory. The cousin of the Volkswagen Beetle was a major touchstone of Pfenning’s childhood. His father purchased the Brunswick Blue Type 3 fastback for $2,200 in 1967 after totaling his 1965 Volkswagen Beetle. The car was no match for a cow he hit while traveling home from their grandparents’ house in rural North Dakota. “Growing up, my job every Sat

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Golf GTI

One Rabbit GTI fan’s years-long build of his ultimate custom car

However much you’ve worked on a single vehicle, chances are you haven’t done as much as Derek Spratt did to his 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. Over the course of seven years, Spratt estimates he spent more than 12,000 hours modifying his GTI and documenting his labor of love in over 180 videos on social media. The videos range from Spratt’s descriptions of basic electrical wiring to installing a modern digital dashboard in a vintage vehicle. His own estimate of his costs: $140,000. And to

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Community

Why Volkswagen SUVs are a great companion for winter driving

Winter is here, and you want a vehicle that can help you weather a storm. Enter the 2020 Atlas and Tiguan. These SUVs carry a variety of passengers and help you navigate changing road conditions with confidence. Check out the features that make Volkswagen SUVs a great companion for your winter adventures. Heated seats and steering wheel: It’s not always practical to drive in gloves, and with an available heated steering wheel, you can ditch them faster. Another way to warm up before the h

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Philanthropy

Helping train the next generation of auto technicians

Volkswagen recognizes the need for vehicles to be in the hands of students to help educate and equip tomorrow’s technicians with the tools necessary for future employment. Over the next few months, Volkswagen will donate 31 Atlas SUVs and diagnostics equipment to trade schools and career centers across the country. The goal? To help address the growing need for trained automotive technicians who understand both the hardware and the increasingly complex software in modern vehicles. With

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Atlas

The 2021 Volkswagen Atlas: Arriving soon with new looks and tech

In three years, more than 170,000 Volkswagen Atlas sport utility vehicles have joined American families as the kids-and-stuff hauler of choice. With up to seven adult-sized seats, 17 cupholders and more cargo room than almost all of its competitors (96.8 cubic feet with second and third-row seats folded, to be exact), the Atlas has proven itself as a compelling family companion. In the past, that might have been good enough for a three-year-old vehicle, but not in today’s market. Instead, Vol

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Special Event

Volkswagen celebrates world debut of mobility research as contributor to exhibit at Guggenheim Museum

In an effort to reframe the global debate about what urbanism means today, Volkswagen experts have teamed up with architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas, and AMO, an internationally acclaimed research and design studio for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), to collaborate on a project that reveals the radical changes and transformations being made to the world’s countryside. This month marks the public opening of the rotunda exhibition, “Countryside, The Future,” at the Guggenheim

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