Special Event
Flint brings back its historic Soap Box Derby, with a little push from Volkswagen Group of America
As the cradle of the American automobile industry, Flint, Mich., has always been a playground for four-wheeled innovation. In the boom times of 1936, the town held its first Soap Box Derby for children and adults to home-build their own gravity-powered racers. Thousands of fans and even the occasional national political leader would attend the events, which were held until 1995. Since then, a lack of resources has kept the event on hiatus – until this summer, when Volkswagen Group of America
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A new era for Volkswagen innovation in America begins with the Type 20 Concept
Some two decades ago, the Volkswagen Group opened a three-person office in Silicon Valley, looking to tap the region’s burgeoning tech scene for new transportation breakthroughs. Today, that office includes more than 180 engineers, designers, researchers and social scientists – the largest such office outside Germany. Earlier this month, Volkswagen announced a new name and increased responsibility for the site: the Innovation and Engineering Center California. And to demonstrate how it wi
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How one Wyoming science lab uses a Tiguan to put education within reach
When many schools in Casper, Wyo., started to struggle with funding and field trips became limited, many students weren’t able to visit nearby attractions. One of these attractions was a science museum, The Science Zone, a locally owned business for almost 21 years. So, community members decided to come up with an alternative plan. Now, instead of all children coming to the museum for the usual 45-minute lesson and tour, The Science Zone staff is able to bring science education directly to stude
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Volkswagen collaborates with DonorsChoose.org to support classrooms across America
Chances are if you have a child in public school in the United States, that school has received support from DonorsChoose.org. From its start in 2000 by a Bronx teacher, the crowdsourced giving network has raised more than $830 million for some 500,000 teachers. Four out of five public schools nationwide have had at least one DonorsChoose.org project, and educators have turned to the network to help fund everything from classroom decorations to clothes for needy students – helping some 34 mil
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The Golf SportWagen and Alltrack close a five-decade run of VW wagons in America
Volkswagen knows wagon fans well; we’ve been selling wagons in America since 1966. But customers are speaking clearly about their preferences—it’s an SUV world now—and the 2019 model year will mark the end of Volkswagen Golf Alltrack and SportWagen production for the United States. “As we say goodbye to the Golf wagons, our legacy of ‘long roofs’ is something worth celebrating,” says Megan Closset, Product Manager for the Golf Family at Volkswagen of America. “From the air-cooled Squareback t
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How soccer and poetry give kids a new way to compete with America SCORES
Twenty five years ago, an elementary school teacher in Washington, D.C. saw that many of her fifth-graders had nothing to do in the hours after school. She invited them to stay after school and play soccer – and when the weather turned cold, to explore poetry and spoken word performances to keep the group intact. That combination – along with community service – form the pillars of a fast-growing non-profit now known as America SCORES that serves more than 13,000 students a year, at 311 s
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Watch the Volkswagen ID. R drive the fastest all-electric lap around the Nurburgring
Thirty-six years ago, one of the world’s fastest race cars – a Porsche 956 – tore around the 12.9 miles of the Nürburgring Nordschelife race track in a scant 6 minutes, 11.13 seconds. That record stood for more than three decades as an ultimate testament to power, engineering and skill, only falling to an experimental Porsche last year that was custom-built for the task. Last Monday, that record was surpassed for the second time – by an all-electric car. The Volkswagen ID. R electric race
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U.S. soccer star Mia Hamm teams up with Volkswagen to inspire young women
Mia Hamm – one of the most important and influential female athletes of all time — dropped in and surprised a girls’ soccer team in Palo Alto, Calif. The five-time U.S. Soccer Player of the year, two-time Olympic gold medalist and Soccer Hall of Famer was invited by Volkswagen of America to crash the girls’ practice, train with the squad and offer advice to the next generation of young female soccer players. Hamm, who retired in 2004 as the leading goal scorer – male or female – in the wo
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What becoming ‘carbon neutral’ means to Volkswagen – and why it’s the only way forward
It’s clear the world is getting warmer. It’s time to stop avoiding the question of what to do about it. Under its “Drive Bigger” brand direction, Volkswagen of America plans to embrace this challenge as our calling for the years ahead. By building a future designed to help tackle the problem, we plan to drive a big change in American transportation, just as we did with the original Beetle. As one of the world’s largest automakers, the Volkswagen Group has a global responsibility – one it p
read moreThe next step in autonomous cars? Helping avoid motion sickness
Carsickness can happen to anyone: the confusion between the motion your eyes see, and the motion your body feels, can lead to a queasiness in your stomach or something worse. About a third of all people are susceptible to it—women more than men, children more than adults—but under the right conditions, anyone can suffer from it. And many of those conditions could become more common once autonomous vehicles hit the road. At the Volkswagen Group research labs in Wolfsburg, scientists are st
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Volkswagen Remixes: Seven custom vehicle builds for 2019
Just as the summer starts with a dance remix hit or two, Volkswagen annually takes some of its most popular models and builds special remixed versions to inspire enthusiasts across this country. The 2019 edition of the Volkswagen enthusiast fleet ranges from off-road haulers to ‘90s-themed throwbacks—all built with the sense of fun that’s an essential part of Volkswagen. Created at the Volkswagen Technical Service Center in Auburn Hills, Mich., this Golf Alltrack Combi brings a global loo
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How To Speak Smartly About Beautiful Cars, Like The Volkswagen Arteon
Even as it hits the United States, the Volkswagen Arteon already has won awards for its unique style. A blend of four-door sedan, hatchback and sport-car cues, the Arteon looks like no other vehicle on the road, and its role as the flagship of Volkswagen in America suggests where the brand’s future designs will evolve. There may be no more challenging job in the automotive world than designing a vehicle. It’s not just taking a blueprint of a chassis from engineers and making it look prett
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One of the first Golf R Spektrums heads north to a true Volkswagen enthusiast
Imagine designing your favorite car in your dream color. Thanks to the new Volkswagen Spektrum Program, Jennifer Jensen was able to turn her vision – a 2019 Volkswagen Golf R in Violet Touch Pearl – into a reality. Jensen was one of the first customers in the United States to receive the 288-hp, all-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf R in one of the 40 custom-order Spektrum colors. The Auto Exotica magazine publisher and TV host resides in Oshkosh, Wis., and her collection of high performance an
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The Volkswagen Tarok Concept Asks America if it’s Ready for a Compact Pickup Revival
Forty years ago, the first vehicle designed and assembled by Volkswagen entirely in America rolled out of the factory in Pennsylvania. Officially and simply called "Volkswagen Pickup," the compact truck built from the Rabbit chassis offered an economical alternative to full-size pickups in a time of fluctuating gas prices. Over five years, Volkswagen sold 77,514 Pickup models in the United States and exported several thousand more before the U.S. market shifted away from small trucks. At
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The magic in the Bus: One woman’s push to restore classic car know-how
Fallon Taylor is not your typical classic-car restorer: she is young, talented and female. She is also an expert at what she considers a “dying trade,” which is repairing and restoring vintage Volkswagen Beetles, Karmann Ghias, and Buses, using old school tools and tricks to regain their former glory. More than half of U.S. drivers are women, but they comprise less than three percent of auto service technicians and mechanics, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The statis
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Tracking down the wild, and wildly colorful, Volkswagen Golf Harlequin
Ross Cupples has been chasing down Golf Harlequin vehicles for decades. Ever since the Volkswagen enthusiast first spotted the color-blocked hatchback in 1996, he has made it his mission to own a complete set of the limited-run car in all four base colors. “I think a lot of people who are into them really like the head-turning aspect of them. It takes a certain kind of person to own one,” says Cupples, a used-car dealer in Belmont, N.H. “When you drive a Harlequin, nobody doesn’t look at
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The new 2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI marks 35 years of four-door fun
The formula has been simple from the start: Pair a four-door, affordable compact sedan designed for everyday usability with the engine and handling prowess of a hot hatchback. Volkswagen first deployed this formula in 1984 when it created the first Jetta GLI, and the 2019 Jetta GLI unveiled today proves the old recipe still has a kick. Redesigned with American drivers in mind, the new GLI has more power, more technology and more handling prowess than its predecessor, in a package that’s withi
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