VW Golf GTI Excessive (2010): the maximum GTI

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 16 May 2010 07:07 The Volkswagen Group has fallen in love with the Austrian hot hatchfest that is Wörthersee. Barely a year goes by when an outrageous Audi or VW isn't being wheeled out to Europe's GTi fans – and 2010 is no different. The new VW Golf GTI Excessive is not as extreme as its name suggests, but rather it's a gently tweaked-up version of one of the most rounded hot hatches on sale today.

Plans To Drop Congestion Charge Pay-By Text

TEXT messages are to be dropped as a way for drivers to pay for their congestion charge under plans being considered by Transport for London (TfL). A new Smartphone app may replace text messages, which make up around 400 out of the 130,000 congestion charge payments made each day. TfL, which is launching a six-week consultation ending on September 12, describes texts as an "under-used SMS payment service" and claims the app would enable drivers to carry out a wider range of tasks.

VW to announce Italdesign takeover on Tuesday

Volkswagen will announce Tuesday that it will take a 90 percent stake in Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A, people familiar with the matter told Automotive News Europe. The Giugiaro family will retain 10 percent in the Italian design house that is famous for styling cars such as the first-generation VW Golf. VW plans to acquire control of Italdesign to help reach its goal of becoming the world's largest automaker by 2018 with sales of 10 million vehicles a year.