Volkswagen Apparently Played Us and Everyone Else

Late yesterday, news dropped that Volkswagen planned to change its name to Voltswagen. A lot of automotive journalists noted the date and called out the announcement as a premature April’s Fool prank, but further reporting seemed to confirm that the name change was indeed real.

Turns out that it really is an April Fool’s prank gone awry.

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Piston Slap: Why So Uncool Minivan?

Josh writes:

What is the deal with minivans? I was thinking the other day that as an outdoor person, minivan’s are perfect. They have lots of room for people and gear, AWD (in some cases), lots of roof space, and better MPG’s than an SUV. But apparently I can’t own one because they’re not cool. I could get a wagon though. Isn’t a minivan just a super-sized wagon?

Will minivans ever be cool to own?

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  • SCE to AUX "...if there’s enough demand"If they are only offered as electric to begin with, how will Stellantis gauge demand - unhappy customers demonstrating at the dealers with torches and pitchforks?What a great way to add cost and reduce competitiveness, by making a propulsion-agnostic platform with a hundred built-in compromises.
  • FreedMike Awfully nice car.
  • Cprescott So is this going to lie and tell you that they have quality products at affordable costs that won't get recalled?
  • SCE to AUX So they might continue gigacasting 3 pieces instead of 1. Tesla does gigacasting as a business advantage, so they aren't abandoning it. They probably ran into some tech challenge related to integrating 3 pieces into 1, so 3 will do.Meanwhile Toyota and several Chinese mfrs are adopting gigacasting because of Tesla.
  • Tassos Great Choice, far better than an ES350. I prefer one size larger and a V8 as in the LS460, but it is probably not as agile as the GS.And thus spake the REAL TASSOS.