Automotive opinion

With a brilliant communication surcharge, Volkswagen makes the opportunities of digital possibilities clear. The virtual VW exhibition stand as a replacement for Geneva could be the first step, after Corona, to do without car shows altogether and to redirect or concentrate the tangible, personal communication on your own events.

There will certainly continue to be auto shows worldwide, but as has become apparent in the past, many car manufacturers are increasingly shifting their technological visions and developments to technology shows such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The change of location of the IAA from Frankfurt to Munich will also be accompanied by a completely new exhibition concept, which should bring about a strong digital realignment. Read full article ... (623 words, 2 images)

The environmental aid association is not making friends at the moment, but many enemies. Autobild editor-in-chief Tom Drechsler apparently caused gasping for the fact that the mini-club with maxi-suit volume used the corona crisis for ideological nonsense. In his pointedly harsh comment, instead of speed limit on the highway, he calls for “Laber limit for environmental aid!”

It is indeed frightening how unscrupulous car opponents, no car haters, use the corona crisis as a fire accelerator for their sometimes abstruse fire of demands. Because the environmental aid association "under the guise of helping corona patients is calling for a speed limit right now", he is making himself ridiculous. "Even the most loyal DUH fans will see through this as rarely stupid!" Read full article ... (312 words)

What the new Hyundai luxury brand Genesis presented this week in Seoul is apt to draw the highest attention from premium European manufacturers and customers. The new Genesis G80 surprises with its aesthetic design and technological presence. And reminds of well-known competitors.

The brand, since its independence and its appearance in 2015, has hardly come into its own in Europe and especially in Germany, let alone penetrated the attention of potential buyers. We drove a Hyundai Genesis back in 2014 and were amazed at the similarity to Audi models. No wonder, because the designer Peter Schreyer gave his face to various Audi and VW models before moving to South Korea. Read full article ... (395 words, 4 images)

There can be no doubt that Corona will change our lives. But not only for the negative. Suddenly even the Fridays-for-future youngsters will realize that their climate bawling after Corona is probably the last thing that will interest us.

In this respect, the dramatic development for our industry certainly has positive sides. Because we have to assume a multi-dimensional recession, many critics of our economic system, and especially the automotive industry, will have to hold back to slow down the recovery that is hopefully coming soon. Read full article ... (514 words)

Volkswagen misses no opportunity to push the switch to electromobility, to force it and to communicate wherever possible. As an e-doubter, it is difficult to stay at a critical distance. When VW boss Diess announced the radical e-donation, nobody expected this consequence, which Volkswagen is now showing in all areas.

It has not yet been decided whether the battery vehicle will dominate the mass market or whether alternative developments - from synthetic fuel to hydrogen-powered fuel cells - will overtake the electric car with battery on the market. The crux for all car manufacturers is that they have to finance the change wherever they go with combustion engines. BMW has demonstrated with the i3 and i8 electric vehicles that you can be too early with an innovative product. The i3, presented with a communicative bang seven (!!) years ago in presentations around the world, raised expectations for further electric vehicles or at least for extensive further development. But nothing came. The lake was quiet and the impression was created that BMW had put e-mobility aside. just like BMW did with the hydrogen twelve-cylinder in the 7 Series, which was developed close to series production, but sang and was stored silently in the museum of dreams dreamed up. Read full article ... (818 words, 1 image)

It seems to be a natural law: as soon as a new marketing boss comes into a company, the corporate identity is first revised - at least the “modernization” of the logo is commissioned by an agency. And as always, the new trend-setting design object is not only praised for its polarizing power, but sometimes criticized and asked whether this is necessary at all. Answer: yes, this is necessary because the world of perception and viewing habits also change. We don't just want to see new cars, we also want to see new shapes. In every detail.

New logos are always controversial at first. BMW Marketing Director Jens Thiemer is no different with the new BMW logo than his colleague Jochen Sengpiehl from Volkswagen, who presented the new VW logo with a "floating" W at the last IAA. One can rightly ask whether the customer is even aware of the creative hustle and bustle of optical changes. Nevertheless, I am convinced that these changes are required to signal that we are developing, we are not stopping. The customer may not consciously perceive these nuances of necessary change, but a logo also subtly radiates the orientation power of a brand in our subconscious. Read full article ... (860 words, 3 images)

They are vehicles in which self-proclaimed climate protectors and apostles of equality swell reliably: We are talking about the large SUVs, sorry, “SAV” models from the BMW range. By the way: Bayern have always been against the marketing mainstream when it comes to the term SUV and call their off-road vehicles Sports activity vehicles.

While the plug-in hybrids from BMW are allowed to put on a green coat on the patient paper on which the official consumption values ​​are printed and the diesel versions are actually characterized by amazingly good consumption values, there are now also the sporty derivatives of the M GmbH from Garching. As usual, they drive the demanding approach of both series to excess. Read full article ... (795 words, 2 images)

We have got used to the fact that small cars sometimes become crossovers, i.e. mini SUVs. With the world premiere in Düsseldorf, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has now shown that there can also be a perfect synthesis between cars and delivery vans. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has managed to push the synthesis between commercial vehicle and passenger car to the extreme.

The synthesis between delivery van and family car has been a VW specialty for around 40 years, and with the new digital caddy it should be the focus of many new car buyers. While the original ancestor of the new caddy, which was presented in 1978, was still a rather primitive variant of the Golf at that time and was actually only intended for the USA as a rabbit (rabbit), the fifth generation of this all-rounder suitable for families and craftsmen is closer to the digital comfort zone of higher quality Cars as on a mobile commodity with four wheels. If the experts refer to the modular cross construction kit as a caddy base, the explanation is more concise that here is actually a golf of the latest design with robust usability. Read full article ... (767 words, 4 images)

If you are driving in northern Sweden in February, vehicle control on the icy roads is not only a necessity, but also a source of the greatest driving pleasure. It's not for nothing that Audi presented its new RS Q3 and RS Q3 Sportback on a frozen lake. Their outstanding driving characteristics come into their own here particularly well.

At first it is difficult to get used to the slick streets. With every oncoming truck you ask yourself the question: what if it now skids ...? In the new Audi, you quickly get used to the fact that, thanks to Quattro drive and spikes on the wheels, you stay in control. And you can clearly feel that the new generation RS Q3 far exceeds its predecessor in all criteria of driving dynamics. Read full article ... (1094 words, 4 images)

The association comments on the discussion at Hart but fair Environment technology law: “The first successes are proudly presented: The destruction of the intact power plants has already been ordered, the electricity has already been increased dramatically and blackouts have probably been made! Cheers in the stands!

The climate cult is a very profitable business, even for dubious scientists. Trillions of euros are stolen from citizens for this business. Most citizens do not notice this because common sense has been completely obscured. "Gretel we thank you!" Read full article ... (1662 words)

If you listen to the human resources departments of the automotive industry, it is not the climate catastrophe that is painted on the wall behind the scenes, but a “dramatic reduction in personnel that should only be communicated in slices.

This development will be confirmed on February 11, Daimler boss Olla Källenius at the balance sheet press conference. "And it will get worse," an insider told us. It is bad enough that instead of the recently rumored reduction of 10.000 Daimler jobs, there are now 15.000. Read full article ... (410 words)

When it comes to Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, the traditional auto industry has reached the end of its development. The car will become an “Internet device”. In his speech to executives, Diess described fewer problems in the auto industry, but essentially the problems of Volkswagen. The fact that speech among employees does not act as a motivational accelerator can be felt right up to the retailers.

"Today we have to sell our diesel and petrol engines and at the same time tell our customers that they should then buy the dying past and actually renounce it and take a battery-electric ID.3? That is an irreconcilable contradiction! ”Says the sales manager of a large Munich VW company. "With his speech, Diess took away any motivation to talk a customer into a new Golf ..." But it had to be sold "to finance the questionable e-mobility". And: “Every day, customers ask us whether it is better to wait with a new purchase. We have to bend our heads enormously in order to represent our products of today credibly. ” Read full article ... (726 words)

So much unity seems seldom in politics. In principle, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and parliamentary groups in the Bundestag seem to agree: synthetic fuels make sense. Most of them even see an opportunity for German industry to take a leading position here worldwide. You want to get started. In their view, the e-fuels produced with the help of electricity are exactly the stuff that will keep planes in the air, ships in motion and trucks in motion in the future - but not a passenger car, please. It should drive electrically. That's the plan. Read full article ... (878 words)

If you visit the CES in the gaming paradise of Las Vegas, which takes place in the first days of a new year, you think you are at a car show. Here, digitization in the automobile is more visible than at the car shows in Los Angeles, Geneva, Frankfurt or Detroit.

However, the highlights of consumer electronics also play an important role, but no longer the main role. Audi is one of the first manufacturers to discover the Consumer Electronic Show as a projection screen for innovative future developments. All major automakers are now present in Las Vegas. Read full article ... (974 words, 3 images)

When the Chancellor speaks of man-made climate change, even though she knows as a scientist the uncertainty of this claim, I doubt that she is a physicist. The intelligent, no cleverly orchestrated climate hysteria has led to the fact that with the CO₂- Guilty the government and the EU have virtually generated a money printing machine. CO₂ as a license for unlimited turning on the control screw.

I had just written these sentences when this open letter "fluttered" into my electronic mailbox, which the association UTR | Environment | Technology | Law | e.V. transmitted. Sender of the renowned graduate chemist Dr. rer. nat. Hans Penner. Read full article ... (962 words)

The Vienna Philharmonic is still playing the traditional New Year's concert, so I catch myself in the middle of a Korean manufacturer's configurator looking for the right infotainment for a compact SUV - with battery drive. Should I be one of the more than fifty percent of Germans considering buying an electric car? They raised me with petrol from an early age, first for the Fiat Topolino, then with a mixture for the DKW 1000 SP with a proud 55 hp. Read full article ... (676 words)