On Monday, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, purchased further ordinary shares in Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, increasing its holding to 50.76 per cent of all ordinary voting shares in Volkswagen. As a result of passing the threshold of 50 per cent, Porsche will acquire indirect control over Scania AB, Södertälje, and is required by Swedish law to launch a mandatory offer for the truck manufacturer. The Stuttgart-domiciled company is not bound by pre-acquisition prices and is only read more

To help commercial vehicle buyers in 2009, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has a host of new finance offers on some of its most popular vans, such as the Caddy, now available new from £189 a month, or used from the Volkswagen Assured Used scheme from only £99 a month. Selected new models of the Caddy, Caddy Maxi and Transporter van ranges are now available on Contract Hire or Finance Lease programmes from £189, £209 and £229 a month, respectively, over 36 months at 10,000 miles per annum. read more

The Volkswagen Transporter van has been described as ‘head and shoulders’ above its rivals by the judges who chose it as the Best Medium Van in the inaugural Fleet Van Awards 2008, while the latest issue of Commercial Motor magazine has named the Transporter winner of a Medium Van group test against five rivals, with particular praise for its quality and fuel economy. ‘In such a tough category, the winner had to have a supremely strong offering.  But there was no doubt in the judges’ read more

Volkswagen’s five executive board members made $31.7 m selling company shares in the middle of the share price drama which saw the company briefly become the world’s most valuable, the Financial Times reports. Volkswagen told the publication that the five executives decided to donate 10 per cent of the personal profit to charity, in a move speculated to be engineered to deflect criticism. We reported in October, that the company’s shares surged 400 per cent over two days as it emerged read more

The cool sexy VW Scirocco is back and it looks great. The car has moved on since the original Scirocco was launched in 1974 but the 2008 version looks a class act and has the wow appeal that the older generations had. The Scirocco is a coupe with a hatch, which the maker hopes will increase its practicality as a family car. Volkswagen Scirocco GT 2.0 TSI full road test The VW Scirocco is a stunning piece of kit, which should bode well for residual values. The price list adds to the appeal, read more

Whiplash tests on car seats reveal that 80 per cent need to improve to protect against painful imjury. Today’s Euro NCAP results for seats put through the organisation’s first ever round of rear impact testing tested the effectiveness of car seats at protecting against whiplash. The tests were carried out on the front seats of 25 passenger cars crash-tested by the organisation during 2008. The results revealed that most manufacturers still have a long way to go in improving seat read more

The extraordinary news that Volkswagen briefly became the world’s most valuable may have been at least partially resolved by Volkswagen’s parent company Porsche. The BBC reported that the value of Volkswagen share rose by 348 per cent over Monday and Tuesday after it emerged that only 5 per cent of Volkswagen shares were available. The consequential impact on hedge funds which bet that shares would fall, were left in desperate need to buy shares in VW to make a profit.  VW shares did read more

A new green car club has been launched with the help of CityGate Volkswagen. Buckinghamshire New University has taken delivery of two low emission Volkswagen Polos from the High Wycombe based car leasing company to start up its own car club, reports the Bucks Free Press. The university launched the club for its students in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions and encourage car sharing. Teaming up with Commonwheels, a not for profit organisation which helps set up car clubs, Buckinghamshire read more

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has released the first images of two exciting new models in its stylish Sportline van range - the Caddy Sportline and Caddy Maxi Sportline vans set to go on sale next month. They join the existing Volkwagen Transporter Sportline panel van (short and long wheelbase) and Transporter Sportline kombi to make a range of five models in Volkswagen’s dynamic Sportline range. Each vehicle combines aggressive yet tasteful styling additions while retaining the read more

Prices have been announced for the sixth generation Golf and customers can now place an order for the new model in a Volkswagen Retailer ahead of the cars arriving in the UK in January. Starting from £13,150 ‘on the road’ RRP for the entry-level S three-door model with a 1.4-litre 80 PS engine, prices rise to £20,980 for the range-topping GT five-door with 2.0-litre TDI 140 PS and six-speed DSG gearbox. The new Golf is available in three trim levels – S, SE and GT – and all boast a read more