Greenpeace wants to Turn VW Away from the Dark Side, Launches Spoof Star Wars Ads

The rebel alliance from…Greenpeace launched a coordinated attack against the Volkswagen Group this morning by airing spoofs of the German firm’s now famous mini Darth Vader commercial, taking over advertising hoardings to install their own banners on billboards located in London and unleashing “eco-storm troopers” to protest on London's Old Street.

Greenpeace went ahead with the attack to draw attention to its concerns over the German company’s ecological record.

The environmental activist group claims that the car giant is “spending millions of Euros every year funding lobby groups who are trying to stop Europe increasing its commitment to greenhouse gas reductions from 20% to 30% by 2020” and calls Volkswagen to turn away from the Dark Side.

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New 2012 VW Beetle Makes Music Video Debut in Britney Spears’ “I Wanna Go”

Ever since Hershey’s chocolates appeared in William A. Wellman’s 1927 Wings movie - the first and only silent film ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, the practice of product placement has become an every day part of our television and cinematic experience.

Volkswagen is one of the many automakers that has adopted this strategy spending millions of dollars each year to place its products not only in movies but in music videos as well. One of our eagle-eyed readers, Dallas Howell, noticed the product placement of the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle in Britney Spears’ brand-new, paparazzi-bashing "I Wanna Go" music video.

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Alleged Dealer Employee Slams Ferrari 456 into an Oncoming Volkswagen Gol

A violent accident between a Ferrari 456 and a Volkswagen Gol that took place in Martinez, an affluent city located near the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires was caught on tape by a nearby security camera.

The video shows the blue Ferrari 456 after the driver lost control of the car as it heads slideways towards an oncoming Volkswagen Gol hatchback. The impact, as you can see for yourself in the security footage, is severe. Both drivers were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Although we could not confirm this, media reports from the country citing police sources state that the driver was not the owner of the car but a dealer employee who was taking the Italian supercar for its technical inspection.

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VW Salesman Likes to Bang and Jump on Doors

As the adage goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and it is better to be reviled and even mocked at than to be ignored. In the case of Larry Roesch Volkswagon (that’s how the name of the German automaker is spelled on the dealer’s Youtube account), making the automotive ridiculist was intentional to grab some media and customer attention. And since we’re here talking about it, you could say that their goal has been achieved…

The VW dealer has published a series of intentionally cheap and corny commercials starring one of the company’s salesmen, Nick Pontarelli. In two of the videos, Pontarelli abuses a Volkswagen Golf GTI and a Jetta by forcefully shutting and climbing onto the doors to prove the cars' ‘German’ strength and quality. His final statement is “try that with a Hyundai or a Honda”. Watch the clips after the break.

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Video: 2009 Volkswagen Polo in, out and around

Volkswagen rolled out the all-new Polo supermini at the Geneva Motor Show this week. Smaller than the Golf, the Polo will compete in Europe against the likes of the redesigned Renault Clio and the new Ford Fiesta. Bigger and roomier from today's Polo, the new model benefits from a revised engine line-up that includes a 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline unit with 102HP and 75HP and 90HP 1.6-liter diesels. Sales in Europe will commence in the beginning of July.

Video: VW's BlueSport Mid-Engined Roadster in Action

The Detroit Show saw the reveal of VW's BlueSport concept, a mid-engined roadster study said to preview of a production model that could be launched as early as 2012. The concept is powered by a 180HP 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel propelling VW's... "poor man's" Boxster from 0 to 60 mph (96mph) in 6.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 140 mph (226 km/h). And all this with a fuel economy rating of just 55 mpg U.S. (4,3 l/100 km). Click through to watch the first official video of the well received BlueSport that includes both driving footage and beauty shots.