Junkyard Find: 1971 Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi
The early second-generation Volkswagen Type 2 bus is one of those vehicles that’s supposed to be so suffused with sacred nostalgic vibes that any example, no matter how trashed, will sell for tens of thousands of dollars. As we can see here, the presence of this reasonably complete 1971 Kombi in a wrecking yard near Pikes Peak indicates that real-world values for these vans may differ from the values quoted in online diatribes angrily banged out by Internet Car Experts.
Read more
Dispatches Do Brasil: Good Riddance, Kombi.

The Conselho Nacional de Trânsito, the highest traffic authority in Brazil, has just unauthorized the Economic Ministry’s intention of opening up an exception to venereal, I mean venerable, Volkswagen Kombi (known as Bus in the U.S.). It has ratified the governmental organ’s own resolutions of 2009, which implemented a gradual, mandatory adoption of airbags and ABS systems, reaching 100 percent of cars sold in Brazil as of 2014.

Read more
Brazil Imposes New Safety Standards As Consumers Fork Out More, While VW Gets A Pass

The Brazilian auto industry has been on edge for a week and a half, as the Economic Ministry announced that the mandate for airbags and ABS on all Brazilian cars in 2014 was “under review”. Citing worries over inflation (as car prices make up an infinitesimal part of that complex calculation) and the fact that auto sales were down, the Economic Ministry said that the 2014 adoption of the aforementioned equipment might not be in Brazil’s best interest.

Read more
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X The dominoes start to fall...
  • IBx1 Get the standard established, then stop building the chargers while you let others license the design from you to build more stations with your standard disgusting
  • IBx1 “Dare to live more”-company that went from making the Countach and Diablo to an Audi crossover with an Audi engine and only pathetic automatic garabge ”live mas”-taco bell
  • Pianoboy57 Not buying one of these new when I was a young guy was a big regret. I hated the job I had then so didn't want to commit to payments. I did own a '74 Corona SR later for a short time.
  • FreedMike This wasn’t unpredictable. Despite what the eV HaTerZ kLuBB would like you to believe, EV sales are still going up, just not as quickly as they had been, but Tesla’s market share is down dramatically. That’s the result of what I’ve been saying for a long time: that the competition would eventually start catching up, and that’s exactly what’s happening. How did this happen? It boils down to this: we’re not back in 2019 anymore. Back then, if you wanted an EV that wasn’t a dorky looking ecomobile like a Leaf or Bolt, it was pretty much Tesla or bust, and buyers had to deal with all the endemic Tesla issues (build quality problems, bizarre ergonomics, weird styling, and so forth). That’s not the case today – there is a ton of competition, and while these newer models aren’t quite there when it comes to EV tech, they’re getting closer, and most of the Tesla weirdness just doesn’t apply. And then there’s this: stale product is the kiss of death in the car biz, and aside from the vanity project known as Cybertruck, all of Tesla’s stuff is old now. It’s not as “bleeding edge” as it used to be. For a company that made its’ bones on being on the forefront of tech, that’s a big problem.I don’t think Tesla is out of the game – not by a long shot. They’re still the market leader by a very wide margin, and their EV tech is the best in the game. But they need to stop focusing on stuff like the Cybertruck (technically fascinating, but it’s clearly an Elon Musk ego trip), the money/talent suck that is FSD, and the whole robotaxi thing, and put product first. At a minimum, everything they sell needs a very heavy refresh, and the entry level EV is a must.