Volkswagen Group has announced a significant executive restructure, as it chases "more efficient" management under new CEO, Dr. Herbert Diess. As reported earlier this week, Matthias Muller has 'stepped down' from his position as CEO, less than three years after taking on the role amid the Dieselgate storm...
Spanish brand Seat has revealed a new function for its in-car DriveApp – an integrated Shazam music recognition service. Announced on the first day of Mobile World Congress, the new feature allows users to identify songs on the move "in a completely safe manner"...
Seat has officially launched the Cupra sub-brand, announcing its arrival with hotted-up take on the Ateca. As you'd expect of a fast, semi-compact Volkswagen Group product, power comes from a 221kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine. Cupra says special tuning has made it sound better than in some other iterations, while a new Otto Particulate Filter System helps it meet ever-tightening European emissions standards...
The Seat Tarraco has been leaked on social media this week, giving us an early look at the Spanish brand's upcoming seven-seat crossover. Posted on MQB-Coding & Retrofit's Facebook page, the leaked images show the Seat's take on the Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace, sporting a more angular face than its German relative – though not much else is drastically different...
Seat has teased the upcoming Tarraco, its seven-seat competitor to the Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq. The name was chosen by public vote, and references the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It won more than 35 per cent of the vote, beating Avila, Aranda and Alboran for the crown...
The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance has claimed the global passenger vehicle sales crown for 2017 ahead of the Volkswagen Group and Toyota Motor Company. According to figures released by the various companies, the French-Japanese alliance has successfully broken the two-way lockout of the sales charts in recent times...
BMW, Daimler (parent of Mercedes-Benz and Smart), Ford and Volkswagen have joined forces to roll out a fast charging network for electric cars across Europe. Ionity, a new joint venture company equally owned by the four automakers, plans to have approximately 400 high-power charging stations open "across European major thoroughfares" by 2020...
The Volkswagen Group is looking to diffuse emerging tensions among its mass-market marques by giving them more clearly-defined roles in the future. According to a report from Reuters, the automotive giant wants to cut the overlap between Skoda, Seat and Volkswagen vehicles, in an attempt to better take advantage of its manufacturing scale...
The 2018 Seat Leon Cupra R has been revealed, ahead of its public debut at next week's Frankfurt motor show. Limited to 799 units, Spain's hottest hot hatch features an uprated version of the Leon Cupra's 2.0-litre turbo four, pumping out 228kW of power in six-speed manual form, and 220kW when equipped with the six-speed DSG self-shifter...
The 2018 Seat Arona has been officially revealed in its home market of Spain this week, slotting below the larger Ateca in the company's line-up. Set to take on the likes of the Nissan Juke, the Arona rides on the Volkswagen Group's MQB 'A0' architecture for compact vehicles, which already underpins several models including the Audi Q2 and new-gen Volkswagen Polo...
While Seat vehicles aren't available in Australia, we can help to name one of the company's upcoming vehicles, its Skoda Kodiaq twin. Other public naming competitions have garnered a lot of interest, with popular entries creating controversy, mirth or both...
The Seat 600, the car that put Spain on wheels in the aftermath of its devastating civil war, is having its 60th birthday this month. To celebrate, the Spanish marque restored a 600 convertible, and is displaying it at the Barcelona motor show, which is currently under way. The car was hand restored by a team of around 30 people...
The Seat Arona small SUV has been leaked online this week, giving a first look at the Spanish company's rival to the Nissan Juke, which is set to debut in the coming months. Images published by MQB-Coding & Retrofit show the stylish crossover in silver, looking very much like a baby version of the larger Ateca - Seat's twin-under-the-skin to the Volkswagen Tiguan...
The head of the Volkswagen Group has flatly stated on the record that he's not interested in a merger with Fiat Chrysler (FCA). Earlier this week, Marchionne told Bloomberg and other media outlets at the Geneva motor show that he had "no doubt that at the relevant time VW may show up and have a chat" about a merger between the two automakers...
The 2017 Seat Ibiza has been revealed overnight in its home market of Spain, ahead of its European launch in July. While the Spanish hatch isn't likely to land in Australia anytime soon, it's the first Volkswagen Group product to ride on the MQB A0 platform - a smaller version of the MQB component set that underpins several models including Volkswagen Golf, Tiguan and Audi A3, and will likely form the basis of the next-generation Volkswagen Polo and Audi A1...
Volkswagen finished 2016 as the world's number one automotive company, edging out Toyota, which has just reported its global sales numbers for last year. Both companies are expected to finish well ahead of General Motors, which should take out the final podium spot. Earlier this month, the Volkswagen Group announced that it had sold a total 10,312,400 cars and trucks throughout the 2016 calendar year, a 3...
Volkswagen has responded to the rising political, social and, potentially, legal pressure that's been building on it to compensate European owners of cars fitted emissions testing defeat devices. In a statement to Reuters, the company stated: "The software contained in vehicles with a EA189 engine in the view of Volkswagen represents no unlawful defeat device under European law...
The chairman of the Volkswagen Group has denied the company is planning to sell off some of its brands to help pay for costs related to the Dieselgate emissions cheating saga. According to Reuters, Hans Dieter Poetsch, chairman of Volkswagen's supervisory board, has told Boersen-Zeitung that the company is "not thinking of selling parts of our brands"...
Spanish manufacturer Seat has become the first auto manufacturer to release an app specifically for Apple CarPlay. Developed in-house, the Seat DriveApp allows customers to view full vehicle-status data, including scheduled maintenance and tyre pressure, along with a dealer finder. More features and services will be added over the next few weeks...
Welcome to the CarAdvice.com News Desk, a regular video wrap of the latest happenings in the automotive world and Australia's new-car market. Keeping you in the loop, Tegan Lawson presents a weekly video from the CarAdvice Garage, with everything you need to know about the week in news and reviews...
