We will be updating Autobahning.com sporadically as we’ll be on vacation until July 5.  Thanks for your support.

FROM BUSINESSWEK:  Volkswagen AG plans to cut the U.S. price and increase the size of the Jetta compact car, its best- selling model in the country, as the automaker aims to make its U.S. operations profitable by 2013.

The revamped Jetta will be about 3.5 inches longer and about $1,700 less than the current version when U.S. [...]

FROM REUTERS:  Chrysler could raise its financial targets for 2010 in the second half of the year and aims for a public offering of its stock “as quickly as possible,” Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said on Monday.

Chrysler, which surprised analysts with a first-quarter operating profit last month, is well ahead of its cash flow and [...]

FROM DETROIT FRE PRESS:  Nine months ahead of this summer’s launch of the new Ford Fiesta, Ford began providing special training to dealerships to prepare their staffs to sell the company’s first subcompact car in more than a decade.

The Dearborn automaker decided to provide more product training than usual because it is targeting young, social-media [...]

FROM INDEPENDENT MAIL:  Imagine an eight-cylinder Buick getting 65 miles per gallon.

Bob Taylor of Sandy Springs didn’t have to imagine it. He remembers working on the prototype more than 40 years ago.

But there’s more to the story than just engineering success. It involves a German scientist who worked for Adolf Hitler’s regime during World War [...]

 FROM DETROIT FREE PRESS:  Chrysler Nassau will be the new name for the automaker’s freshened midsize sedan launching late this year — replacing the tarnished Sebring name — according to dealers and others familiar with the company’s product plan. MORE»

FROM DETROIT NEWS:  Back in the Golden Age of the 1960s, they cast a huge shadow over the global auto industry — Henry Ford II and Giovanni Agnelli, patriarch of the powerful family that still controls Fiat SpA of Italy.

They mulled business tie-ups and foiled others. They fought over Alfa Romeo. Hank the Deuce tried [...]

FROM BBC: The Formula 1 calendar will be extended to a record 20 races in 2011 with the addition of the Indian Grand Prix.

Commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone revealed that no races will be dropped to make way and went on to suggest the sport could expand even further.

“We are not dropping anything. [It's] 20 races – [...]

FROM MOTOR TREND: Though in a fair amount of trouble themselves not that long ago, Ford has been the darling of Detroit in recent times as the company restructured itself and improved product without bankruptcy or government involvement. The hard work has paid off, with Ford reporting significant improvements in resale value and steep decreases [...]