Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to All Our Content

Auto News For Thursday, April 21, 2016 – $5000 Payouts And Buybacks At Volkswagen USA

2013 Volkswagen TDI engine

Here are the six must-read, must-watch auto news stories and videos for Thursday, April 21, 2016.

VOLKSWAGEN
We’ll know more soon, but it appears as though Volkswagen will announce offers to buy back approximately 500,000 2.0L TDI diesel-powered cars (2009-2015 models) in addition to supplying owners with $5000. – Reuters

MAZDA
Though critically praised, Mazda’s U.S. sales are down 17% through the first-quarter of 2016. The car division is down 23%. After recording a 21-year high in sales just last year, Mazda’s far off the pace in 2016 – why? – TTAC

HONDA
We’re not much for spy shots here at GCBC – we’ll see what the cars will actually look like soon enough. But the Honda CR-V is a hugely consequential product, typically North America’s top-selling SUV/crossover. In 2016, however, the CR-V is falling behind the Toyota RAV4. Thus, it’s time for a new one. – Autoblog

medianet_width=’300′; medianet_height= ‘250’; medianet_crid=’717379412′;

FORD
Another vehicle that’s outselling the Honda CR-V in America so far this year is the Ford Escape. For 2017, the Escape isn’t all new, but it’ll be significantly revised with new styling, new technology, and new upgrade engine offerings. “Extremely quiet and smooth, the 1.5 accelerates to freeway speeds with acceptable gusto, even with three adults aboard,” Car & Driver says, but, “We’d happily spend another $1295 to put the heavily revised 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbo four under the hood.”

GT
Ford built 4000 copies of the GT supercar a decade ago. The new Canadian-built car is far more expensive, so Ford plans to build only 250 per year. But there are 7000 interested buyers. – evo

WATCH
Poor kid. Baseball centre fielders do this all the time, but they know the wall’s coming. This ballboy wasn’t planning on tripping over his own feet and going headfirst into the wall.