Auto News 5

How long does it take to assemble a fine piece of automotive art? Aston Martin says some 200 man-hours. And the Gaydon, Warwickshire-based automaker of premium vehicles will spend those 200 hours bringing the new Virage back from the great beyond.

Volkswagen's new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is still tooling up to build its first product, the new Passat, but plans are already being laid for a major expansion. Although nobody will confirm it at this stage, reliable sources tell us that the Germans are almost ready to sign off on a second phase that would increase the plant's output by 180,000 to 200,000 units a year. The plan is to let three brands participate in the new venture: Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche. Chattanooga 1 is geared to paint and assemble passenger cars, but Chattanooga 2 will almost certainly be adapted for high-roof vehicles. A second paint shop is thus a necessity.

Talk about déjà vu -- this is almost an exact clone of the A6 3.0T we sampled two years ago. Same black paint; same sumptuous cocoa-on-graphite leather interior; same superb supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 underhood.

Although we have just seen the first photos of the face-lifted Tiguan (seen in photos here), VW is already working on the replacement, due in early 2015. Based on the same new architecture that will underpin the next-generation Golf (the "MQB" components set), the new Tiguan promises to become lighter, stiffer, safer, more economical, and more fun to drive.