Volkswagen kicked off its Jetta TDI Cup race series a couple of weeks ago at VIRginia International Raceway with a close fought and exciting battle to the finish. This weekend they are heading north to another of the toughest tracks in North America at Mosport Park, north-east of Toronto. The Jettas will be racing as part of a program that includes the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the Canadian Touring Car Championship, among other races. This race will be something of a homecoming for the four drivers in the thirty driver lineup who hail from Canada. If you're in the area and interested in checking out some great racing head out to Mosport, you won't be sorry.
Since winning the "Best New Engine of 2006" award from the International Engine of the Year committee, Volkswagen's Twincharger TSI engine has taken the 1.0 to 1.4 liter category by storm, taking the class victory last year and again for 2008. Cited reasons for the win include the engine's high power output and low gasoline consumption. Other awards have been given to the engine, including two in Japan, an Auto Environment Certificate from the ÖKO-TREND Institute for Environmental Research and the "TechnoBest" award from the 15-nation AutoBest jury in Istanbul. Not too shabby, if you ask us. These awards make us want to see this engine make its way from Europe to the states even more. Although the U.S. gets a turbocharged engine labeled TSI, it is unfortunately not the same as the turbo and supercharged engine that these awards have been given to. Volkswagen, if you're listening out there, we'll gladly take the 1.4 Twincharger TSI in the new CC. Thanks!
For everyone who has been waiting anxiously for the new fifty state legal Volkswagen Jetta TDI to arrive at U.S. dealers, it appears things are inching a little closer. A reader the other day spotted a transporter filled with Jettas festooned with TDI signage headed northbound on a North Carolina freeway. Andrew called a local VW dealer who confirmed that these were actually among the first batch of TDIs that will be available for test drives at dealers around North America for the next couple of months before they go on sale later this summer. We first reported on VW's plans back in February at the Chicago Auto Show. From the initial batch of 1,000 cars, each dealer will get one car initially and more will arrive through the course of the summer. Volkswagen expects about half of the 15,000 Sportwagens for 2009 to be TDI powered with about 30-40 percent of the sedans. Keep your eyes open for the new Jetta TDI and if you can snap some photos put them up on Flickr or some other site and send us a link. In the meantime check out the driving impressions of the gas-powered Jetta SportWagen.
The BlueMotion moniker is the denomination that Volkswagen gives to its low CO2-producing models. Such a label might not seem appropriate for a 7-seat minivan, but that didn't stop the Sharan BlueMotion from making its introduction at Geneva in February. Now, the Sharan BlueMotion is on sale in Germany. The BlueMotion designation means CO2 emissions of 159g/km compared to the 177g/km from the regular model. Average fuel consumption of the new van is 6 l/100 km (38mpg U.S.) which is quite impressive for a seven-passenger vehicle of this size. The Sharan is propelled by a 140hp 2.0L TDI engine with a diesel particulate filter at the exhaust. Prices start at €32,200.
Several hours after yesterday's inaugural Jetta TDI Cup race, VW informed us that although Speed TV did record the entire race, it won't actually be on TV for a while. The cable network that seems to be almost all NASCAR all the time, will record all the races this year along with background on the program and drivers. At the end of the series they will broadcast a documentary covering the whole series.
To avoid keeping you waiting until this fall, we've got the full standings of the race after the jump. Mark Pombo managed to keep his car out of any significant contact to move up from fourth on the grid to take victory at the end of the thirty-minute race. The equally prepared cars made for some fantastic racing on the picturesque VIRginia International Raceway. Groups of three, four and five cars at time went at it door handle to door handle. A few cars made off track excursions but only four of the 29 starters failed to finish. If you are in the vicinity of any of the remaining six races this year, it's definitely work checking out the TDI cup action.
Since the first Jetta TDI cup race is going to be broadcast on Speed TV next Saturday don't follow the jump if you don't want to know who the winner was...
The activity going here at VIRginia International Raceway this weekend definitely does not qualify as hyper-miling. In fact it is anything but. The thirty young racers competing in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI cup are hustling their cars around this beautiful 3.27 mile long circuit as fast as they can. But they are still doing it in a relatively thrifty manner. The racing Jettas are putting out 170hp which is enough to average over 87mph here. While most race cars get mileage in the single digits and the national fleet average is 20.2mpg the racers are averaging 25mpg running on regular pump ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. That's good enough to go the entire race weekend without filling up. Starting with the next race at Mosport on May 17-18 the cars will start using B5 biodiesel which is what the production Volkswagen's are certified for. The cars are also running with the same exhaust after-treatment system as the production fifty state legal models. That means every car has a lean NOx trap and diesel particulate filter installed.
We're on site here at VIRginia International Speedway for the very first race of the inaugural Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup and qualifying has just concluded. VIR is a gorgeous natural terrain road course in the hills along the border between Virginia and North Carolina and it offers plenty of great vantage points. During the thirty minute session 29 of the 30 drivers posted valid qualifying times with a 4 second spread from first to last. Twenty-three year old Josh Hurley of Cooper City FL came out on the top of the timing sheet with a best lap 2:14.301 (Yes I know that's not Hurley's Oakley sponsored car in the photo, but I didn't manage to catch one of Hurley. These cars are seriously fun to watch on the track and anyone who remembers watching the early 80s GTIs cornering on three wheels will feel right at home with the Jettas as they hike up the inside rear on tight turns. Like their big brothers the Audi R10s the Jettas are remarkably quiet as they circulate the track. The race cars have the same exhaust system that will be on the production Jetta TDI that launches this summer including the NOx trap and particulate filter. You can check out a video clip after the jump.
Gallery: VIR Jetta TDI Cup qualifying
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
The opening round of Volkswagen's new Jetta TDI cup race series is happening this weekend at VIRginia International Raceway and AutoblogGreen is on the scene. We arrived here in Virginia late yesterday evening and missed the first on-track session of the new Cup racers. We'll be on hand all weekend to provide feedback on what should be the first racing series featuring all clean diesel cars. The thirty cars are based on the upcoming 2009 Jetta BlueTDI that launches later this summer. Stay tuned for more updates this weekend from VIR.
Skoda, the Czech marque that belongs to the VW group, has announced that its Octavia model will from now on use the latest iteration of TDI technology. TDI is based in the use of common-rail injection, and it phases out pump-injectors. The new Superb, due in two months, will also have the new engines installed.
The first powertrain will be installed in the sporty RS version, which gets 170 HP of diesel power from a 2-liter unit, while keeping fuel consumption at very low levels: 5.7 l/100 km for the sedan and 5.9 l/100 km for the station wagon version (42 and 41 mpg, U.S., respectively). A diesel particulate filter comes standard. DPFs can also be fitted to VW's double-clutch transmission for better performance. Prices start at € 28,050 in Germany.
The government of Thailand wants to see at least 800,000 fuel efficient cars produced in the country annually by 2015. Honda, Suzuki, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Tata and Toyota have already joined the program and received government approval for their investments. The latest company to apply to join the program is Volkswagen. Volkswagen had been trying to set up an alliance with Proton in Malaysia but those talks fell through last year. Volkswagen still wanted a location in South-east Asia besides China to build cars. The German manufacturer has previously indicated its intent to build variants of its New Small Family (NSF) cars in several locations around the world. The NSF cars were previewed with the three up! concepts that debuted at auto shows in Frankfurt, Tokyo and Los Angeles last fall. Lower cost NSF variants for developing markets will likely be built closer to those markets. That is probably the vehicle that Volkswagen has in mind for the Thai venture.
At the International Vienna Motor Symposium, which starts today, Volkswagen is announcing that its next-generation turbo diesel engine, BlueTDI - developed especially for the North American market - will initially be available in the U.S. version of the Jetta. The Jetta BlueTDI will come to North America sometime in the middle of this year, followed at some point by the Touareg BlueTDI.
BlueTDI is the cleaner version of the already pretty clean TDI engine that VW uses in its European diesels (starting with the Tiguan last year). TDI meets the Euro-5 standard and BlueTDI is ready for the stricter Bin 5, Level 2 standards that are in force in five U.S. states, including California. Not only does the BlueTDI engine have the low emissions, but VW's director of powertrain development, Dr. Ing. Jens Hadler, said in a statement that the Jetta BlueTDI can get up to 60 mpg in highway driving. Perhaps that'll ease the pain of the Golf TDI hybrid's failure to launch. The BlueTDI displaces 2.0 liters and generates 103 kW/140 PS with 320 Nm of torque. More details after the break.
When Volkswagen showed off the Golf TDI Hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show last month there was plenty of interest in the 69mpg concept. The combination of a 1.2L diesel, hybrid electric drive and a 7 speed DSG transmission yields some seriously thrifty performance. Unfortunately all that cool hardware adds up to quite a bit of cost and it now looks like the bottom line is too big to justify for a car in the Golf's market segment. German magazine Auto Motor und Sport is reporting that the Golf TDI Hybrid will not come to pass. Instead, VW will combine the hybrid system with a 1.4 TFSI four cylinder. In the Geneva press release VW said "The Golf TDI Hybrid is currently a concept vehicle, but a version of this vehicle is likely to go into production in the future." VW of America Spokesman Keith Price told ABG that no firm production plans were announced and the car was just a concept. With the U.S. dollar in continued decline, it seems unlikely we'll see anything as fancy as the TDI hybrid or any other hybrid until VW gets a U.S. production site on-line.
Diesel racers have had a lot of success in the recent past. But what happens when you have diesel racing diesel? We'll find out soon. For 2008, Volkswagen is replacing the current GTI cup with the Jetta TDI Cup. As the name implies, the new series will use the new Jetta TDI diesel sedan. For racing purposes, the 2.0L diesel will be rated at 170 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque pumping through the standard six-speed DSG gearbox. The suspension and brakes will be beefed up for track use and all the usual racing safety equipment will be included. Take a look at the schedule here and the complete list of contenders here. We'll be on-hand at one of these upcoming races, so expect to hear plenty more on this particular topic on our pages.
As part of a project to create a Volkswagen concept city car for the year 2020, Stefan Mathys, Christoph Bigler, Florian Kaufmann, and Thomas Spycher came up with the City Transport Cell (CTC). Besides being completely electric, there are some novel ideas in this concept, not the least of which are the full-height doors and customizable seating-arrangement. The year 2020 is not nearly as far away as it once seemed (funny how that always happens) but we don't imagine that our roadways will be filled with anything resembling the CTC anytime soon. Still, we think that it's good for designers to push the boundaries of current car design in an effort to invent something truly revolutionary.
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At the International Vienna Motor Symposium, which starts today, Volkswagen is announcing that its next-generation turbo diesel engine, BlueTDI - developed especially for the North American market - will initially be available in the U.S. version of the Jetta. The Jetta BlueTDI will come to North America sometime in the middle of this year, followed at some point by the 
