Volkswagen is ceasing all motor sports ventures that incorporate an internal combustion engine, according to a statement released Friday. The move further underlines VW’s commitment to electric vehicles (EVs), and comes as a surprise to the motor sports world, as this decision affects racing series from the World Rally Championship to the World Touring Car Championship. The switch seems to only effect Volkswagen-branded vehicles and not Porsche or Audi.
“Volkswagen is resolutely committing to e-mobility and will say goodbye to factory-backed commitments using internal combustion engines,” sais Frank Welsch, member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand.
Sven Smeets, motorsport director for VW, had further comments: “Electric mobility offers enormous development potential, and in this regard, motor sport can be a trailblazer: On the one hand, it serves as a dynamic laboratory for the development of future production cars and, on the other, as a convincing marketing platform to inspire people even more toward electric mobility. That is why we are going to focus more than ever on factory-backed electric drive commitments and continue to expand our activities with the development of the MEB. Innovative technology relevant to the car of the future is our focus.”
The production of the Golf GTI TCR for the racetrack will expire at the end of 2019, and a successor based on the new generation will not be offered. Customer service and spare parts supply will be guaranteed in the long term. In the World Rally Championship, customer cars will continue to be built and parts supplied, however, there will be no official factory involvement. The same will be true for the Sebastien Loeb Racing World Touring Car Cup team.
VW is no stranger to fielding successful electric-powered race cars. It currently holds records at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Goodwood Festival of Speed, and the Tianmen Mountain Hillclimb. The new ID.R electric prototype also holds a lap record at the Nürburgring.
Curiously, it was just two days ago that VW’s U.S. media site announced a 2020 project by Rhys Millen Racing to field a Class 7 (midsized pickup truck) for the Baja 1000 featuring a 2.0-liter internal combustion engine used by the former VW Polo WRC car. The vehicle is scheduled to be driven by Tanner Foust, a VW brand ambassador and championship-winning race driver. Phone calls to Rhys Millen went unanswered.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.