Recently, Volkswagen has publicly announced their intentions to play aggressively in the U.S. market - their ultimate goal to sell an average of 1 million cars in the U.S. by 2018. Last year, VW’s final sales figures for the U.S. totaled 230,572 vehicles, which means they have some considerable ground to cover, but VW is ready for the challenge. Throughout 2012, VW plans to unleash a fury of German engineering on the market, featuring many production adaptions of VW’s space up! concepts. To kick off the blitzkrieg, VW will eventually dispatch a 14-vehicle army to U.S shores, beginning with 3 key front men: the VW Rabbit, Routan, and CC.

View lineup after the jump

The 2008 Paris Auto Show kicked off today amid highly publicized financial turmoil in the auto industry and rather than attempt to make the best of an admittedly dismal situation, many auto makers chose to take the Al Gore approach. Lest anyone think the future looks brighter illuminated by the news of government bailouts, GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson assured Paris Auto Show press that not only is the North American market weak, but the European market is likely to flounder in the next few months as well. Not to be outdone, Ford CEO Alan Mullay conservatively estimated that the global car market won’t even begin to recover until 2010. “2009 is not going to be better than 2008,” said Mullay, “We won’t see a recovery until 2010.”

Europe’s leading auto manufacturer, Volkswagen AG, isn’t nearly as fatalistic as the boys back home.

[Photo Source: Autoblog.com]

Intended to grace American shores as the 2009 MK VI GTI, the new VW speed demon packs a redesigned, powerful 210-hp 2.0L TFSI-four engine. Mated with a six-speed manual transmission, the 2009 GTI puts out 207 lb-ft of torque and can apparently do 0-60 mph in 7.2 seconds - specs definitely befitting a company with strong performance ancestry.

Bottom line: although it isn’t the highly praised European-bound Scirocco, the 2009 VW GTI has undergone a significant revision and we have no qualms about accepting it as a substitute.

Gallery after jump

VW Twin Drive Golf

Powered by a rather significantly impressive turbodiesel, all signs are good that VW will be producing this plug-in hybrid in the future.  At least in Germany any way.  But considering how many changes this vehicle has already gone through and the almost daily developments in auto industry technology, it is not too far-fetched to think there may be hope for a North American version at some point.

Remember that old email about the New York man who bought land in Portugal and found a mysterious barn full of old cars on it? Well that story is bunk, although with a delicious nugget of truth in the center, as usual. Instead of being a magical mystery barn that some lucky fool found on his newly purchased land, it actually just belongs to an old man who owned a car dealership in the 70s and 80s. He decided to save the more interesting cars that he came across during his life.

The pictures came about on the internet because the owner hadn’t seen his collection for a while and asked a man to go take pictures of the barn and the cars for him, and he did. According to that guy, there are 180 cars in the barn.

Check out the actual pictures:

VW Up! Concept

There are a whole line of vehicle concepts under the “Up!” umbrella from VW, meant to explore the possibilities of a new power source centered around the world’s first high temperature fuel cell and lithium-ion battery system.  With announcements on automotive innovations being made almost on a daily basis, it would be easy for VW’s achievements to get lost in the fray.  However, there are good reasons why this concept shouldn’t.

On Wednesday, Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce arrived in LA after successfully completing the course mapped by the Gumball Rally in a record 38 hours, 37 minutes, and 41 seconds. Dubbed “The Willie Run 2008″, Bristow and Pierce’s cross country trek was made in a VW Jetta TDI, powered entirely by Willie Nelson’s BioWillie brand biodiesel. “I know the trip sounds crazy, but it’s more important now than ever,” Bristow explained to Autopia before the trip, “We’re on the cusp of a very important election where oil and energy are universal top concerns, and biodiesel is one of the cleaner, more viable fuel alternatives out there. We need to get the word out.”

2009 Car of the Year Nominee: Dodge Challenger

In January of next year the North American Car and Truck of the Year winners will be announced during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  The process that leads to that decision began last week with the release of the first round of 26 finalists.  Not suprisingly, vehicles from the crossover segment of the industry dominate this year’s list.

Featuring design cues that suggest heavy Chevrolet Avalanche/Honda Ridegline influences, Vee Dub has released preview photos of their new pick-up truck, which isn’t set to officially debut until later this week at the 62nd IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Germany. Scheduled to begin production in Europe in the fall of 2009, VW says their first pick-up truck was not engineered for the casual pick-up enthusiast, but rather tailor-made specifically to accommodate coastal search-and-rescue crews.

View gallery after the jump

2010 Volkswagen Rabbit TDI Spy Photo

Eagerly anticipated by environmentalists and Vee Dub fans, the 2010 eco-friendly, diesel-fueled VW Rabbit TDI will be introduced to the U.S. in the fall of ‘09. According the VW, the Rabbit TDI’s will be released in a limited number and are intended to measure the market’s receptiveness of compact, diesel cars.