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Beetle
With the 2019 Volkswagen Beetle Final Edition, we say #ByeByeBeetle
It’s official: The 2019 Volkswagen Beetle will be the last production year of the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, exactly seven decades after it first came to the United States in 1949. But the Beetle will be getting a year-long sendoff, beginning with special Beetle Final Edition models for 2019 and continuing over the next several months. “The loss of the Beetle after three generations, over nearly seven decades, will evoke a host of emotions from the Beetle’s many devoted fans,” said Hinrich
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What do you call the game of spotting a VW Beetle?
First: It is the official position of Volkswagen of America that no one should throw or receive a punch (or even a tap for that matter) simply upon seeing a Volkswagen Beetle. Volkswagen does not condone any form of violence, especially over an icon of the peace-and-love era like the Beetle. That said, it is well known that generations of bored American children on the road have invented and handed down a game around the Beetle. But there’s also a lingering debate that has never been sett
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Capturing the past and present at Wolfsgart 2018
Nestled in the northern beauty of Vermont lies Burlington, a small town hugging the eastern shore of Lake Champlain. For one weekend each summer, this small town becomes the travel spot for Volkswagen enthusiasts around the northeast region. The attraction: Wolfsgart. Celebrating all varieties of European makes and models, Wolfsgart’s roots trace back to Volkswagen and to this day a large majority of the event is focused on the love of the People’s Car. This year, Volkswagen attended Wolfsga
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Cruising the coast in air-cooled style for Treffen 2018
If you were lucky enough to be driving along the West Coast last month, you might have seen a few more classic Volkswagens than usual, and a couple that you might not have recognized. That was the 2018 edition of the Highway 1 Treffen, the annual 1,700-odd-mile cruise from Canada to Mexico along some of the most beautiful roads in America. This year, dozens of VW Buses, Beetles, Karmann Ghias, Type 412s and other models from Volkswagen’s air-cooled era took part in the caravan. The Volksw
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Celebrating ten years of Volkswagen in Chattanooga
Ten years ago this week, Volkswagen made it official: It wanted to build one of the world’s most advanced automotive assembly factories in the hills outside Chattanooga, Tenn. And since then a series of successful milestones – from the 700,000th Passat to the new expansion for the growing Atlas line – has shown how VW and Chattanooga have built a partnership for the future. Since its launch, the initial investment of approximately $1 billion in Chattanooga, and the commitment to
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Volkswagen’s Car-Net gives owners additional peace of mind with three new features
Volkswagen Car-Net® Security & Service has always been there for you. From sending destinations directly to your compatible navigation system, obtaining Vehicle Health Reports, Remote Vehicle Access, Guardian Alerts, or safety features like Automatic Crash Notification (ACN), Emergency Call, and Roadside Assistance, it’s a great way to help you stay connected when you are on the move. And now, the VW Car-Net app has added three new valuable Security and Service features that only strengthen
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Jetta Haus Goes Beyond the Driver’s Seat
Bass reverberating deep in your chest. Infinite selfies in a mirrored room. Delicious drinks and tasty treats. The Volkswagen Jetta Haus pop-up events offered something for every sense in a perfect weekend mashup of music, food, and forward-thinking experiences. For Jetta and VW enthusiasts, the Jetta Haus pop-up events in May were more than just an opportunity to get behind the wheel of the all-new 2019 Jetta. This pop-up party toured Chicago, Miami, New York, and Los Angeles and gave gu
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Volkswagen’s U.S. factory cheers the first grads from its on-site high school
Imagine as a high school student studying Chaucer in one period, and then walking a few steps to program a state-of-the-art welding robot or 3D printer. That’s a glimpse of what a school day is like at the high school held on the grounds of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga factory. Volkswagen Chattanooga, Chattanooga State Community College and Hamilton County Schools recently celebrated the first graduating class from the Mechatronics Akademie, a two-year mechatronics program at Volkswagen Chatt
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Driving the first-generation Volkswagen Jetta with its 2019 successor
The 1980 model year was a big one for Volkswagen of America. Known at the time mostly for the Rabbit hatchback, VW brought out four new models that year – the Rabbit convertible, the Rabbit-based Pickup, the then-new Vanagon (including its hip camper variant) and an all-new sedan named after the German word for “jet stream:” the Jetta. It was not many years later that the Jetta became the best-selling German model in America, with more than 3.2 million models sold since. With the new 2019 Jet
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Unleashing the Rrrrr-roar of the Golf Rs at WITW
For one weekend in April each year, the small village of Fontana, North Carolina, hosts a gathering of Volkswagen friends and owners casually known as WITW. What ties these cars together, apart from the VW badge, is that their engines all produce a beloved exhaust note. This year I joined over 100 of these special cars for some fun, both in the village and on the famous roads that surround it. The Golf R32 and Golf R cars have been a staple in the VW enthusiast community ever since the first
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Meet the sausage that’s one of Volkswagen’s most popular products
In the official Volkswagen parts list, it's item no. 199 398 500 A -- one of the world’s most unique sausages, and a Volkswagen original celebrating its 45th year of production. First created in 1973, Volkswagen has made its own currywurst sausage ever since, and in the process turned it into a symbol of the company throughout Europe. While it’s a staple of the factory cafeterias in Wolfsburg and other European Volkswagen plants for breakfast or lunch, it’s also sold in grocery stores und
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Why VW’s first electric race car previews the future of EVs
Last week, Volkswagen Motorsport revealed the first all-electric race car in the company’s history. Built with the goal of setting a new record for the race up Pikes Peak in June, the I.D. R Pikes Peak combines cutting-edge motorsports engineering with Volkswagen’s growing expertise in electric mobility. And while the custom-built race car was designed for one purpose, it also previews the technology that will help make electric vehicles a more mainstream reality. Pikes Peak ranks as the wor
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A designer’s look at the 2019 Volkswagen Jetta
How do you design a new car? Boldly and carefully. The all-new 2019 Volkswagen Jetta reflects years of exacting design work by a dedicated team that had to anticipate American market trends, meet a host of engineering requirements, and eventually craft a look that can appeal to millions. “Cars are always reflecting society, fashion, architecture — they’re part of the development of mankind,” says Klaus Bischoff, head of design for Volkswagen. “From the beginning, we said we need to have a
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How the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak concept pickup came to life
The idea was simple – “build a modern Volkswagen pickup truck” – but the execution was anything but. The Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak concept vehicle unveiled at the New York International Auto Show reflects months of work by dozens of VW designers and engineers to build something that has not existed before; a real mid-size pickup, designed for American tastes, from the highly flexible platform architectures of the Volkswagen Group. The result was the hit of the show, precisely because it mix
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9 Things You Didn’t Know About the All-New Arteon
The camera flashes popped and the crowd “oohed” and “aahed” when Volkswagen unveiled the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon in February at the Chicago Auto Show. Two fastback sedans, in metallic red and yellow, rotated on the stage, and although the iconic VW logo adorned both trunks and hoods, the cars were unlike any Volkswagen vehicles attendees had ever seen. That was by design. With the Arteon, Volkswagen set out to establish a new design direction for the future, providing a glimpse of the next
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Talking Tech: Driver Assistance Features Offer a Helping Hand
Subtle sensory cues belie a complex interaction of systems in Lane Assist and Blind Spot Monitor to help you help your car stay in control. When you lose focus for just a split second when driving, it can lead to an unintentional lane drift. Helping keep you in your lane with your focus on the road is one of the reasons VW designers and engineers created the Driver Assistance technologies like available Lane Assist and Blind Spot Monitor. But here’s what most people don’t realize: That tech
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The Atlas Tanoak asks: Should VW build a pickup for America again?
Once upon a time, Volkswagen assembled and sold pickups in America. Branded simply as the “VW Pickup,” known elsewhere around the world as the Volkswagen Caddy, the Rabbit derivative assembled in Pennsylvania was the brainchild of American executives in an era where front-wheel-drive trucks were popular due to high gas prices. After selling 77,513 models between 1979 and 1985, VW left the U.S. pickup market to others. Today, we ask: What might happen if Volkswagen brought a pickup back to the
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VW’s electric I.D. aims for the pinnacle with R Pikes Peak
After a 34-year absence, Volkswagen will return to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this June with the I.D. R Pikes Peak – an all-electric race car designed with the goal of setting a new record for one of the world’s toughest motorsports events. Designed as a showcase of the technology behind Volkswagen’s upcoming I.D. production electric cars, the R Pikes Peak will race up the mountain on June 24th with three-time Pikes Peak champion Romain Dumas at the wheel. “The I.D. R Pikes Pe
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From hands on to hands off, how autonomy will become reality
With the I.D. Vizzion concept car revealed at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Volkswagen offered a look at what the self-driving car of 2030 might look like. But how, exactly, will we get to the future of vehicles without steering wheels or pedals? It’s been a long-standing source of debate around the auto industry, which has adopted five levels of autonomy to group these types of vehicles. Here’s our guide to how those five levels will mark the changes to come:
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