After being rocked by a diesel scandal, the biggest auto controversy of the year, carmaking giant Volkswagen is still struggling to cope with the aftereffects. In today's top Volkswagen stories, new TDI Audi models will be built in the U.S. but remain absent from U.S. markets, while Volkswagen believes that of its major brands Audi, Porsche and VW, there's only space for one diesel model to make a comeback. One bright spot for the company, however, is a $21 million investment it made to e-Golf vehicles, signaling a possible strategic shift.
Currently, all Audi and Volkswagen TDI models in the U.S. have been left out of showrooms and will likely remain absent for years, according to Green Car Reports. Volkswagen announced a TDI diesel model, the new Volkswagen Atlas TDI, would not be sold in the country.
The Atlas TDI is a diesel model of the Atlas 7-seat crossover UV, a vehicle that made its debut last week during the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show. The diesel vehicle will be built in Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory but sold exclusively in Russia. The new TDI was not expected in Canada or Western Europe either.
In other news, the scandal has also forced the diesel lineups of its most lucrative U.S. brands, Audi, Porsche and VW, to be suspended indefinitely. But according to The Car Connection, Audi is hoping that there may be space in the U.S. market for one of its diesel models to stage a comeback.
Audi has yet to confirm which of its diesel will return to the U.S. Audi of America President Scott Keogh did, however, say at the LA Auto Show that it would likely be its Q7 SUV.
But Volkswagen may not need to rely on its diesel models for long. It's also reported that its Transparent Factory in Dresden, Germany was being repurposed to produce e-Golf electric vehicles instead by April 2017, and investing a whopping $21 million on the initiative. The Transparent Factory was built exclusively to produce Phaeton, Volkswagen's 2002 luxury sedan, but the car was pulled from the market four years later after slow sales.
Volkswagen's e-Golf is already being sold in the U.S. An upgraded 2017 model debuted at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show last week.
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