German Auto Industry's Progress Threatened by Lack of Engineers

Despite the global economic crisis, German automakers are reporting record profits and sales in the first half of 2011. Therefore, if they can prosper under such dire conditions, then the future looks more than bright, correct?

Well, while true, the German auto industry is actually facing one little tiny problem that seems to be slowing their expansion plans: a shortage of engineers to design the new cars they intend to produce. The reasons for this shortage are the aging, thus slowly but steadily retiring, workforce and the loss of interest in technical studies by the young.

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VW to Invest €1 Billion in Renewable Energy Production

Volkswagen seems committed to increase its renewable energy production as it plans to invest close to €1 billion ($1.44 billion) over the next two years, according to a report from Financial Times Deutschland.

This is a significant increase compared to the end of June announcement of a €600 million ($868 million) investment. VW is, reports the newspaper, interested in buying at least two offshore windparks and it is possible that it will announce a partnership with windpark developer Windreich before the end of 2011.

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VW to Unveil New Experimental One-Seat Electric Car in Frankfurt

[VW XL1 SEV Concept from 2011 Qatar Motor Show pictured above]

Less than 24 hours after Volkswagen lifted the wraps off the production version of the up! city car, we have news that the German company is planning to reveal a one-seat experimental electric vehicle on September 8 in Berlin, ahead of its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

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VW Unveils Production Version of Up! City Car

The production version of Volkswagen's up! small car has been officially revealed ahead of its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The up!, which has been previewed by numerous concepts over the past few years, is a small city car measuring just 3.54 m long and 1.64 m wide.

Unlike the concepts, however, the production version VW has abandoned the rear-engined, rear-drive layout in favor of a more conventional and predictably less costly to manufacture, front-engine, front-wheel drive setup.

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Production VW Up! Ditches Rear-Engine, Rear-Wheel Drive for a Traditional FWD Setup

It won’t be long before we get our first glimpse of the production version of Volkswagen's all-new Up! city car that scheduled to have its official world premiere at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show.

But here's a little something we learned. While the three-door hatchback model's looks are very similar to the original Up! Concept car displayed at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show, under the sheetmetal it's a different story as Volkswagen has ditched the study's unique rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout.

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Made in the USA: Weak Dollar Boosts Local Production

The US dollar has been dropping relative to other currencies including the Euro and the Yen, hitting a historically low level compared to the last 30 years. This means that imported goods of all kinds, including automobiles, are now more expensive in the States. However, on the other hand, the weak dollar has made US exports cheaper and therefore more competitive in the rest of the world.

This is especially good news for US car manufactures notes Edmunds.com analyst Michelle Krebs: “The weak dollar is good for manufacturers in the US, whether they're the Big Three of German or whatever, because they can export at an advantage”.

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Germany's Luxury Brands Unaffected by Global Economy Slump

The auto industry hasn’t escaped the drama affecting the stock markets due to the US credit rating downgrade and the problems in the Eurozone. This month has been the worst ever since November 2008 for the Euro Stoxx Automobile and Parts Index as it lost €35 billion ($50 billion) or about 19%, of its value.

However, despite the slowing global economy, it is luxury carmakers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi rather than mass-market brands, like Fiat and Renault, that can withstand its effects better.

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Rumors: VW Gets Serious About Producing the Bulli as a Microbus Successor

VW management is “very seriously” considering a plan to put the Bulli concept MPV into production according to media reports. The Bulli was launched at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show as a study about a modern, eco-friendly replacement of the iconic Microbus of the ‘60s.

Initially there was no intention to produce the Bulli, but the public’s positive reaction to the concept study has made VW reconsider.

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Frankfurt Preview: VW Video Announces Up! Production Model

It has been four years since VW revealed its first Up! project car at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007 with a small concept model featuring a versatile interior. Since then, the German company has revealed many more iterations of the Up!, including the five-door “Space-Up!” in regular and “Blue” Fuel-Cell flavors, the Milano EV, and the “Lite” breadvan. Read more »

2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Under Investigation Over Fuel Leak Complaints

Federal safety officials are looking into allegations for possible fuel leaks on the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta equipped with a 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine (TDI).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] said that so far, it has received seven complaints alleging leakage from the fuel line to the No2 fuel injector, all from vehicles with low mileages ranging from 2,470 to 7,764 miles.

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GM is World’s Number One Automaker, Toyota Drops to 3rd Place behind VW

Well, it was almost certain to happen after the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan causing multiple problems to the country's automotive industry. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, saw its production drop by 23% to 3.37 million units for the first half of the year - and includes sales of Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino vehicles.

As a result, the Japanese company lost the title of the world’s largest automaker that it held since 2008 to General Motors, which saw its sales rise by 8.9% to 4.536 million units for the first six months of 2011. For the time being, second place goes to the Volkswagen Group which sold 4.13 million units worldwide.

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Video: Man Sets Guinness World Record for Tightest Parallel Parking

Under the supervision of an official Guinness World Records [GWR] adjudicator, German driver Ronny Wechselberger, also known as "Ronny C-Rock" (be careful with the spelling here…), set a new record earlier this year for the world's tightest parallel parking.

Mr. C-Rock was able to slide his VW Polo with the help of the handbrake into a parking space measuring just 26 cm’s (10.24 inches) longer than that of his vehicle. Even though the record was set in April 2, 2011, the Guinness World Records officials released the video today.

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VW Demonstrates its Handsfree Auto Pilot in Action [Video]

Back in June, Volkswagen revealed its Temporary Automated Pilot (TAP) system at the HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicle for Intelligent Transport) event in the city of Boras in Sweden.

TAP can assume control of the car using all its active safety systems without any intervention of the driver, who simply monitors the situation.

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ABT Sportsline has 2012 VW Tiguan SUV on its Sights

The recently refreshed for the 2012 model year Volkswagen Tiguan is next up on ABT Sportline's tuning menu.

While still on the works, the German tuning house released the first renderings and information on the upgrades that will be available for VW's compact model. Beginning with the performance modifications, ABT Sportline will offer a variety of power kits for the entire range of the European model's engines.

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Malignant Rumors: Bentley May Build a Super Luxurious SUV

There are some things in the auto industry that one takes for granted: Fiat is best known for its small cars like the Panda and Punto; Land Rover for its ultra-capable 4x4s like the Defender and the Disco and Ferrari for its glorious-sounding supercars.

In Bentley's case, it's the hand-crafted luxury coupes and sedans, but change is inevitable (especially if you operate under the umbrella of the VW Group…).

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