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VW Group to split brands under four holding companies

The Volkswagen Group is planning a tremendous shift in its internal structure that will decentralize operations by splitting its 12 brands into four different holding companies. Here's the breakdown. Things will be split logically, considering the inter-sharing of parts, platforms, and engines. The Volkswagen brand, Seat, and Skoda make up a passenger vehicle division led by former BMW man Herbert Diess. Audi, which is tightly intertwined with Lamborghini and motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, will be managed by current Audi exec Rupert Stadler. Porsche and Bentley, which are already quite close, will be joined by Bugatti and run by Matthias Mueller. Finally, a commercial vehicles division will include Volkswagen Commercial, Scania, and Man. Former Daimler exec Andreas Renschler will take care of the big vehicles. The massive move, according to Automotive News Europe, is part of an internal VAG effort to move away from the structure established by ousted Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who favored a compact, but highly centralized, management structure to oversee the independent actions of the company's brands. Criticism of Piech's arrangement stemmed from the company's slow responses to changes in the market, ANE reports. The new structure should make for a more efficient, streamlined company that's better able to make crucial decisions. What are your thoughts? Should VAG decentralize, or did Piech have the right idea? Have your say in Comments.

Bugatti Chiron Noire only slightly less exclusive than 'La Voiture Noire'

Bugatti has only constructed one La Voiture Noire, the homage to the Jean Bugatti's now-lost 57 SC Atlantic, and as far as we know, Bugatti will only build one. The Molsheim manfuacturer has come up with a way to spread the sheen of The Black Car to a few more Bugatti owners with two versions of a single special edition. The Chiron Noire Elegance and Chiron Noire Sportive are two ways to dress the hypercar up in black, the difference being that one presents a gleaming black objet to admire, the other opens two doors to a singularity and perhaps a portal to the Planet of the Apes. The Elegance is the showy black one, all of its bodywork done in exposed carbon fiber. Two new mesh designs cover the front radiator grilles, highlighted by a Bugatti badge worked up in solid silver and black enamel. Matte polished aluminum caps the C-line swooping around the doors, tying in with the polished aluminum on the side mirrors and engine cover. Lower down, the word "Noire" on the rear fenders, scripted in black, of course, gives away the coupe's exclusive identity, as do the black brake calipers. Inside the black leather interior, silk-matte aluminum highlights the C-line between the seats, and Noire badging decorates the center console, armrest, and door sills. The Chiron Noire Sportive is the shadowy black one, all of its bodywork and normally metallic jewelry slathered in matte black, including the C-line and tailpipes. Bugatti appears to have dipped the interior in a tub of black, so not only is the leather the color of night, so too are all the usually aluminum parts; the C-line, the steering wheel, the center console, switchgear, buttons and knobs on the dashboard and the door handles, all of them want to swallow all the light. Bugatti will sell only 20 of this Chrion Noire special edition, builds to begin in the second quarter of next year. Either package can be ordered for the base Chrion for three million euros ($3.3M U.S.), or added to the more expensive Chiron Sport for an additional 100,000 euros ($110,865 U.S.).

The Bugatti Chiron sounds like an absolute monster

Most of us will never drive, or own, a Bugatti Chiron. Actually, most of us will never even see one. The closest we'll probably get is stuff like this video. So with that in mind, we bring the first of what will probably be many, many videos. This one comes directly from the floor of the Geneva Motor Show and was obtained by the team at Auto Express after they slipped the Chiron's handlers a few euros (probably). The Bug idles, then raises its spoiler and gives an ever-so-brief bark from its quad-turbocharged W16 engine. It sounds good and menacing, but how does it sound next to its older brother, the Veyron? Well, not surprisingly the two cars sound a lot alike. They use broadly identical 8.0-liter, 16-cylinder engines with four turbochargers, but the new Chiron has nearly 300 horsepower more than the Veyron Super Sport shown in the video below. That makes us think that once we finally see the Chiron in motion, it'll be a much faster, but not necessarily much noisier, Veyron. Check out the Chiron giving a bark at the top of the page, and then scroll down to see Shmee150 get a close up with a Veyron Super Sport, for a unofficial comparison of the two noises.