Well, Jason is out of town again, so I thought I’d go ahead and steal his format to let you all know what’s going on in the wonderful world of VW.

• The Scirocco is coming! We showed you video of the Rocco in a previous post, and AutoExpress UK has spy photos giving us a sneak peak of the interior styling. (Auto Express) 
• VW’s new boss (Martin Winterkorn) confirms that VW is working on an ultra-efficient 1.0L motor that might be good for around 235mpg. 235mpg? What’s up now Prius? (Motor Authority)
• While the automotive world figures out what future fuel won’t bring an end to the world, Audi wants to teach you have to drive your car more efficiently. (Popular Mechanics)
• Our favorite BBC car-junky show got their hands on the VW concept W12 GTI. Check out the video below where a very lucky Jeremy Clarkson gets to tear up the track!

The picket lines are still out in front of GM plants. Fortunately, since demand isn’t high right now, if the strike lasts less than a couple weeks, it shouldn’t hurt the General much. Finally, selling less cars is a good thing. Here’s the news:

• Going 172 mph in your Porsche 911 Turbo is pretty fun. Unless you get a speeding ticket and get sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, that is. One more thing: it’s probably not a good thing if the 911  belongs to the company you work for—and they already told you not to drive it: The Daily Record
• Looking to test drive—well, kind of—the new Skyline GT-R before anyone else? Get the GT5 Prologue demo on your PS3. It’ll be out October 24th and will feature the GT-R Skyline concept, as well as the Evo X and Subaru’s newest STi: Autoexpress.co.uk
• The Tesla Roadster should actually be on roads in the US in early 2008 (mostly California roads, we’re guessing): Motor Authority
• It’s tough to be #1. Everyone is setting their sights on overtaking Toyota as the biggest car maker in the world. Apparently, this now includes VW: Autoblog 

Detroit is headed in the right direction, there are less people walking around who think domestics are terrible:

• What happens when you take the soccer mom out of a minivan and replace her with Robocop? Thanks to a DoD design contest, we’ll soon find out: Winding Road
• Apparently, they liked his work stealing secrets from Ferrari. Aston Martin is reportedly hiring F1 spy Nigel Stepney: Motor Authority 
• The knife may be falling sooner and more often at Ford, if things don’t pick up in the US economy. Hopefully, today’s interest rate cut will help things out towards the end of the year: Leftlane News
• Suicide doors are cool. That’s why, even though I saw a door get wrenched off a London cab by a newstand, I’d love to have a chance to buy a car with a pair: LA Times

Hopefully everyone out there is successfully dodging all the hurricanes and tropical storms:

• Volvo is taking on hybrids with its conventionally-fueled C30 Efficiency that was engineered with "…small adjustments and gains in mind." It will get over 52 mpg: Winding Road
• Some car collector made over $2 million on Steve McQueen’s 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso. That money will go a long way towards offsetting the 4000+ hours spent restoring it: Top Gear
• Ford is hiring a few dozen engineers for its alternative-fuel program. A word to the wise: you can’t use a cocktail napkin sketch of a flying car with "solar powered flying car" written underneath it as your application (trust me): Columbus Dispatch
• People are ganking luxury cars in Russia at an amazing pace. I don’t condone car theft, but if a Maserati or Bentley mysteriously appears at CarDomain HQ, we won’t complain: Motor Authority

Strangely, there was no news at all since I last posted. Weird:   

• A German magazine did a study of diesel vs gasoline power and it looks like, if you’re willing to add one second to your 0-100 time, diesel is a pretty good deal: Winding Road
• Then again, you might not have to choose between gasoline and diesel if this hybrid fuel engine hits the US: Top Gear
• I was a little surprised to see the #10 entry on the top cars for soccer stars in the UK: Times Online
• The guys at MotorTrend got their hands on a Caparo T1, the car with the highest street-legal HP-to-weight ratio for a test drive. The drive sounds like a good time, but I want to know what happens when you take one on a grocery run: MotorTrend
• Damn, it’ll cost some drivers $50 a day to drive in downtown London. What would it cost to get people in a city like LA to leave their Hummers at home? Motor Authority