Volkswagen

Looking through the EPA listings for 2011 model year cars, we picked out the most fuel efficient and compared them by a few different data points. Topping the EPA list is the 2011 Nissan Leaf, with its massive 99 mpg equivalent fuel economy. This number represents the combined city and highway mileage.

The 2011 Chevy Volt is more difficult to place, as the EPA lists two fuel economy figures, 93 mpg equivalent for electric operation and 37 mpg for gasoline operation. A simple average shows 65 mpg, which isn't particularly accurate but will do for this comparison.

That hybrid … Read more

The dangers of drowsy or distracted drivers may be a thing of the past. Volkswagen engineers say they have developed an autopilot for your car.

Dr. Jurgen Leohold, Executive Director Volkswagen Group Research on Friday introduced the "Temporary Auto Pilot" (TAP) by Volkswagen at the EU research project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport).

With TAP, the car can drive semiautomatically up to a speed of 80 miles per hour, under the driver's supervision.

"[TAP is] An important milestone on the path towards fully automatic and accident-free driving," Leohold said.

TAP relies on cameras … Read more

As a number of Audi TDI LeMans cars get ready to take on the Nurburgring 24-hour race this weekend, another driver has more-ambitious plans. Rainer Zietlow leads a team planning to drive a Volkswagen Touareg TDI from Argentina to Alaska, a journey of 16,000 miles, in 14 days.

The trip will start on June 29 in Ushuaia, Argentina. Fans can follow the progress of the trip on an interactive map on the team's Web site. Four drivers will take five hour shifts, going non-stop, expecting to end up at Deadhorse, Alaska on July 13.

The trip is timed … Read more

When the new Beetle rolls into showrooms this September, it will have a different look and starting price of just $18,995.

The 2012 Beetle, which was spotted this spring at the 2011 New York auto show, is 3.3 inches wider, 6 inches longer, and 0.5 inch lower than the previous generation, and it comes in three trim lines.

The 2.5L model, which has an MSRP of $18,995, has a five-cylinder engine, delivering 170 horsepower. When outfitted with the five-speed manual transmission, the mileage is estimated at 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway. The six-speed … Read more

At the 2011 International Engine awards, Fiat's little 875cc TwinAir engine won three categories and took home the overall 2011 International Engine of the Year award. BMW took four categories with four different engines, while Audi, Ferrari, and Volkswagen each made good showings.

Fiat's engine ekes 85 horsepower from two cylinders using a turbocharger, and only produces 95 grams per kilometer of CO2. Fiat uses the engine in its 500 model, but U.S. versions of that car are likely to get the 1.4-liter Multiair engine.

Here are the various categories, with their respective winners:

• 2011 International … Read more

Residents in Hanover, Germany are being encouraged to share a Volkswagen. Volkswagen is launching its Quicar car-sharing program in the capital of Lower Saxony, and will recruit residents, students, government officials, and commercial users to share a fleet of about 50 fuel-efficient vehicles in an effort to reduce traffic.

The first batch of cars for the Quicar program will be the extremely fuel-efficient VW Golf BlueMotion. The hatchback, which isn't available in the U.S., is equipped with a 1.6-liter TDI diesel engine, a start-stop system, and regenerative brakes to achieve its 60 mpg fuel economy. To start, … Read more

Volkswagen jumped on the plug-in bandwagon and will produce a range of plug-in hybrid vehicles starting in 2013. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn made the announcement at the Vienna Motor Symposium this week, but he didn't specify which vehicles will get the plug-in power-train.

"The plug-in hybrid offers precisely what many customers expect: unlimited internal combustion engine performance combined with attractive electric mobility ranges in everyday driving," Winterkorn said. The company acknowledges that electric vehicles will play a large role in the automotive future, but finds plug-ins to be a happy medium until infrastructure, technology, and consumers make … Read more

Last Friday, Volkswagen opened up its Electronic Research Laboratory (ERL) to journalists, showing off new areas of high-tech automotive research. But one of the most interesting projects, and not too far out from production, involves making Google Street View part of the navigation system.

Here at CNET, we were most recently blown away by the navigation system in the 2012 Audi A7, which integrates Google Earth. While driving the A7, the navigation system showed satellite imagery, with the car moving through a photographic landscape. Audi incorporates a data connection through T-Mobile in the A7 to download the imagery from Google. … Read more

At the tail end of the international auto show season, automakers still have a few tricks up their sleeves, new models and concepts to unveil at the 2011 New York auto show. Many small cars got significant updates during the first day of the show, and more efficient engines entered the mix.

Check out our first day's coverage of the 2011 New York auto show.