Larry P. Vellequette

Jose Carlos "JC" Pavone has been named head of design for VW of America, giving him design responsibilities over North and South America. The native of Brazil has been with VW since 2002.

As it switches from ICE to BEV by 2033, Audi is also changing the way its assembly plants produce vehicles, concentrating on making those plants — and ultimately the rest of its operations — carbon neutral.

The ID7's long range is a key feature because the sedan will be an all-electric alternative to the VW Passat, Europe's most popular fleet vehicle.

Audi CEO Markus Duesmann said the automaker will make a decision in 2023 on whether to build an assembly plant in the United States to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act's EV subsidies.

The new supercar, code-named LB744 and packing a V-12 engine and three electric motors, will be capable of operating at times on electric power only, improving emissions.

With the Activesphere's augmented reality features, Audi is venturing into an area that BMW also focused on with its i Vision Dee concept car.

The Passat-sized ID7 sedan will be the sixth member of VW's all-electric family.

Lessons learned at Audi Brussels will be shared as other VW Group plants globally make the move from ICE to EV.

Executives appeared to dash hopes for a VW variant of the automaker's planned new pickup for its Scout brand.

The Toyota bZ Compact SUV Concept, which debuted ahead of the Los Angeles auto show, is roughly the size of the Toyota Corolla Cross. A production version would likely be called the bZ3X.

Bentley had an unusually high number of vehicles aboard the doomed car carrier Felicity Ace when it caught fire in February. It finally delivered the last replacements to waiting customers last month, brand officials said.

VW's brands have been working to consolidate their future EVs onto a single platform with locally sourced battery production to take advantage of U.S. tax credits.

Volkswagen of America said it has started saleable production of its ID4 crossover at its U.S. factory in Chattanooga, and expects to be producing up to 7,000 of them per month there by the fourth quarter.

Scott Keogh, CEO of VW of America, will head the automaker's new Scout brand. He will be replaced by Pablo Di Si, who leads VW's operations in South America.

Former Tesla execs Matt Renna and Dustin Krause had been with VW since 2018, joining as the automaker prepared to sell EVs in the U.S. They departed in spring for jobs with EV startups.