Partnerships

Preserving a piece of civil rights history: The Jenkins’ Bus

Most vehicles that sit outside unattended for four decades aren’t destined to ever move again. But this 1966 Volkswagen Type 2 Deluxe Station Wagon isn’t just any Bus – it’s a piece of civil-rights history, and a memory of a family that spent decades working to make the country a better place. Esau and Janie B. Jenkins spent several decades fighting to improve the lives of their neighbors on Johns Island, S.C.  From the 1940s through the early 1970s, the Jenkins family built a network of

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Innovation

The next generation of connected cars arrives with Volkswagen Car-Net for model year 2020

For model year 2020, Volkswagen’s Car-Net® relaunches with new technology and a new approach. Many Car-Net features now come standard with the purchase of most 2020 model year vehicles for the first five years of ownership. A new Internet-of-Things architecture can allow future upgrades, like voice commands and package delivery. And via Car-Net, most 2020 Volkswagen models will offer available Wi-Fi capability. “Next generation Car-Net creates the ability for the car to become part of our cus

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Vehicles

How plaid became part of Volkswagen Golf GTI history

No car has a claim to fame on a day to celebrate all things plaid quite like the Volkswagen Golf GTI – thanks to one woman’s pioneering choices that over the past four decades have become a symbol of driving enthusiasts worldwide. The Volkswagen Golf GTI’s debut in 1976 caused a sensation. Even though only a few details distinguished it visually from the original Golf, Volkswagen—influenced by one of the company’s first female designers—succeeded in transforming the compact car into an af

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Owners

‘It’s always about the kids’: Celebrating Kimberly Tuttle on World Teacher’s Day

https://youtu.be/dG2WFyTvk7g To mark World Teachers’ Day, an international celebration of educators, Volkswagen is celebrating Kimberly Tuttle and the positive impact she has had on her students’ lives. “This is my 21st year teaching,” Tuttle says, “and it is truly a dream.” A native of Blacksburg, Va., Tuttle teaches 11th grade English honors and advanced placement language and composition in Charlotte, N.C. Her excellence was recognized early on in her career by her peers and communit

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Owners

This Hummus Shop’s Secret Sauce is in Their Roots — and a 1978 VW Bus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gumt_soJnKU&amp When Chefs Nick Wiseman and Ronen Tenne opened their hummus shop Little Sesame in Washington, D.C. in 2015, they wanted their restaurant’s foundation to have a very different philosophy than some of the New York City kitchens they’d cooked in over the years. They wanted to create a place that felt more grounded, that would enable them to build connections, explore new flavors and responsibly source their food, so they built one key ingredien

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Company

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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Community

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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Company

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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Vehicles

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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Community

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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Company

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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Community

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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Company

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

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The 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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Community

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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Vehicles

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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Golf R

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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