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It seems Volkswagen is having a tough time selling its latest passenger vans, the ID. Buzz and Multivan. According to German media, VW's historic Hanover plant, the home of the iconic Microbus, has been paused for the period October 20-24. A company spokesperson told Germany's DPA press agency that the pause will allow VW to adapt production to “changed market conditions.” This follows the automaker already extending its summer shutdown at the plant by an extra week and reducing hours during September. The spokesperson added that VW expects the current “intense competition” in the market for both electric vehicles and...

As reported by Bloomberg, insiders have told the publication that production has been reduced across two of the German giant’s EV-only factories, due to reduced demand. According to the insiders, Volkswagen’s Emden plant is cutting back staffing hours and will close its production lines for multiple days, impacting the ID.4 SUV and ID.7 sedan/wagon. The move is somewhat of a surprise, given the ID.4 and ID.7 were the third- and fifth-best selling EVs in Europe throughout the first six months of 2025, and aided Volkswagen to an overall EV sales win in August. Both models however are impacted by fluctuating...

Volkswagen is now offering owners of its ID.3 EV hatchback the option to boost their car’s performance — for a monthly subscription fee. Instead of following the traditional model of offering improved performance through upgraded components, VW has locked its car’s true potential behind a software subscription. Auto Express reports that German automaker Volkswagen has introduced a subscription-based model for unlocking the full potential of its ID.3 electric car, a new model available in the UK. While the ID.3 Pro and Pro S models are listed on the configurator as producing 201 horsepower, buyers must pay a monthly subscription fee...

History forgot the horrors endured by laborers on the automaker’s massive cattle ranch in the Brazilian Amazon. But a priest had recorded it all. SANTANA DO ARAGUAIA, Brazil When Ricardo Rezende Figueira saw the headline, he felt a chill run through him. It was about Volkswagen. The company said it was finally ready to atone for its past. After admitting that its staff had cooperated with Brazil’s military dictatorship to target workers for political persecution, the automaker had begun to negotiate reparations. Rezende read to the bottom of the article, then sat for a moment, quiet. The story didn’t say...

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported cars have yielded yet another win for the American auto industry as Volkswagen plans a “massive” investment in the United States to avoid such duty costs. In April, Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on auto imports to protect the nation’s auto workers and industry from unfair competition. Volkswagen, as a result, has entered negotiations with the Trump administration, reportedly resulting in plans for a large investment in the U.S. auto industry, according to The Guardian: Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, has said it will make a “massive” investment in the US. The group, which...

The second largest carmaker in the world will be relocating the manufacturing of its luxury brand to the United States after President Donald Trump has been encouraging car companies to do business in the US. Volkswagen Group, which is the second largest car manufacturer in the world, will be joining a number of other car manufacturers in moving production to the United States for the German automaker's luxury brand, Audi, per the Daily Mail. A spokesman for the company told the outlet, "We want to localize more strongly in the USA. To this end, we are currently examining various scenarios....

Volkswagen is going to let its customers know just how much President Donald Trump's tariffs will cost Americans. The German automotive manufacturing giant is reportedly adding a new line item to its vehicle stickers. Volkswagen will print an 'import fee' on each new car's buying label. Customers will see the exact cost next to the vehicle's added features prices, fuel efficiency estimations, and crash test ratings. The official sticker — required by law for pricing transparency and found on every new vehicle — will clearly spelling out just how much of the price hike is a direct result of Trump’s...

German luxury auto manufacturer Audi said it is considering moving car production to the United States to avoid tariffs from the Trump administration. Volkswagen’s subsidiary Audi brand said this week that it is examining various long-term strategies, including potentially shifting production to America, to deal with President Donald Trump’s restrictions on foreign imports. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said that the company is “currently assessing various scenarios for additional localization in North America – among other things, to be closer to the needs of local customers and to make ourselves more resilient to global economic uncertainties.”

he budding romance between Honda and Nissan may have already come to an end. On Thursday, Nissan president Makoto Uchida informed his counterpart, Honda president Toshihiro Mibe, that he was pulling out of merger talks, according to several media reports. A withdrawal ends months of behind-the-scenes conversations between the two Japanese carmakers. The two auto giants, along with fellow carmaker Mitsubishi Motors, announced in late December that they would explore a merger, possibly creating the world’s third-largest automaker. Honda, No. 57 on the most recent Fortune Global 500 ranking, reported $141.3 billion in revenue for 2023; Nissan, at No. 136,...

A VW van sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo Preston Martin figured the retro blue Volkswagen van he slept in for a year during college was a goner, given that he parked it in a Malibu neighborhood just before the Palisades fire ripped through, reducing homes and cars to rubble and charred metal. So the surfboard maker was stunned to find that the vehicle survived. Not only that, a photo of the vibrant bus taken by an Associated Press photographer was circulating widely on television and online, giving viewers a measure...

A 235th judicial nomination by Joe Biden confirmed by the ... A Houthi missile attack on Central Israel late tonight with interceptors unable... In Germany a tough deal cut between Volkswagen and its union... The troubled Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft are back in service with the US Navy and Marines but... Eight people convicted in a French anti-terrorism court...beheading of teacher Samuel Paty... US diplomats visiting Syria speaking of 'productive talks' with the country's new government... US politics the US House passing a spending... A car ploughing into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany...two dead and at least 68...

Workers at Volkswagen factories across Germany have begun strikes after the manufacturer threatened to close plants amid falling demand and a slower-than-expected transition to electric vehicles. Workers on their morning shifts went on strike for two hours, while those on the evening shift plan to leave work early in protest at the carmaker's demands, which include a 10% wage cut. At Volkswagen's main plant in Wolfsburg, which employs 70,000 people, a two-hour strike means several hundred cars cannot be built, union sources said. In addition to Wolfsburg and Hanover, which employs a further 14,000 staff, plants affected include Zwickau, VW's...

Three days ago, word of an alleged whistleblower from ABC News emerged following the Trump-Harris debate who claimed, among other things, that Harris was given questions in advanced. While unverified – and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt for now, the whistleblower also claims there are three topics that were off-limits. President Biden’s health. Kamala’s tenure as Attorney General and District Attorney “her brother-in-law, Tony West, who faces allegations of embezzling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and who may be involved in her administration if elections.” To that end, Edward R. Szall via Died Suddenly News...

A German newspaper published an explicit single world headline after Donald Trump emerged as the victor in the 2024 presidential election. Die Zeit, which is the country's biggest weekly paper, posted a reaction piece this morning headlined : 'F***'. The piece outlined factors that could result in scenarios for his political opponents, and was penned by Nele Pollatschek for the outlet, which has been published in the city of Hamburg since it was founded in 1946. In the article, seen by The Latin Times, she wrote: 'Last time, Trump's advisors stopped him from doing too much nonsense. 'Except that he...

Volkswagen could shut down as many as three factories in Germany and lay off tens of thousands of workers as it seeks to regain its edge in Europe amid slumping sales and increased competition from China, the company’s top employee representative said Monday. ***snip*** The representative, Daniela Cavallo, who leads the council representing the company’s employees in Germany, told a gathering of workers at Volkswagen’s home plant in Wolfsburg that the proposed closures were part of a plan that managers had presented to the works council. The company “wants to close at least three VW factories, downsize all remaining plants,...

Volkswagen is contemplating factory closures in Germany for the first time as it grapples with increasing pressure from cheaper Asian competitors. This development signifies a major conflict between Chief Executive Oliver Blume and influential company unions, which have a history of blocking management decisions.The company's works council has identified a large vehicle plant and a component factory as obsolete, vowing strong opposition to the executive board's plans. Lower Saxony, Volkswagen's second-largest shareholder, supports a review of potential closures, increasing tensions within the company.Facing decreased competitiveness, a challenging economic environment, and aggressive Chinese automakers entering Europe, Volkswagen plans to cut costs...

Ford is unveiling its newest electric vehicle this week. Ahead of its official debut, Ford teased the new EV, claiming “the legend is back.” Ford confirmed the new EV will be revealed on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The new EV will follow Ford’s electric Explorer as the automaker’s second model based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. The first all-electric Explorer rolled off the assembly line at Ford’s new Cologne EV plant in Germany last month. It was the first of a 2020 deal with VW to use its platform as it looks to revamp sales in the region. Described as a...

Car manufacturers are slowing their transition to producing electric vehicles (EVs), because of low customer demand and production problems. Mercedes-Benz announced to investors in March of this year that it is going back on its pledge to sell only fully electric cars by 2030. Instead, investors were told that the company plans to continue to make gasoline-powered cars well into the next decade. Fully electric cars and hybrids will account for only up to half of its sales by 2030. It appears that carmakers are suffering after committing wholeheartedly to the ideological fad of EVs, rather than introducing them as...

The UAW said that auto assembly workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant will hold a vote on unionization The United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced Monday that workers at Volkswagen's assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will hold a unionization vote after the UAW secured historic contracts for workers at Detroit's Big Three automakers last year. The UAW said a supermajority of eligible Volkswagen workers signed union cards to call for the election at the Chattanooga plant. The facility is Volkswagen's only assembly plant in the U.S. and employs about 4,100 workers who make the Atlas and ID.4. The union added that...

Workers at a Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, the UAW announced Tuesday. The move could make the Tennessee plant the first to join the UAW since the union earned pay raises and benefit increases for its members in a strike against the “Big Three” automakers last year. “I come from a UAW family, so I’ve seen how having our union enables us to make life better on the job and off,” plant employee Yolanda Peoples said in a statement. “We are a positive force in the...