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Winterkorn receives support of VW board, leadership battle continues

Strange things have been happening - in public, that is - at Volkswagen over the past few weeks, kicked off when VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piech reportedly said he didn't want Group CEO Martin Winterkorn to be the next company chairman, and that he was keeping Winterkorn "at a distance." Winterkorn's ascension was widely believed to be a fait accompli. We were really just waiting for office furniture and desk plaques to be moved around. That led to a meeting of the six-member supervisory board's leadership committee in Piech's office in Salzburg, Austria, not at Group HQ in Wolfsburg, Germany, where the five other members of the committee came out in support of Winterkorn. They also suggested they might extend his contract when it ends in 2016, and then gave Piech an ultimatum to agree to public support of the CEO or they would demand Piech's resignation. At the same time, the company's labor reps and the German state of Lower Saxony issued statements supporting Winterkorn. It's said that the chairman has a number of gripes with the CEO, prime among them being the state of the company's US business for the core Volkswagen brand. Market share has dropped to two percent in the United States and Winterkorn admitted that his team hasn't been properly engaged with our market. Years of effort put into a budget car haven't resulted in much except the company saying it finally knew how to do one, and that was a year ago. It's losing share in Brazil, overall profit margins are down, BMW is taking possession of the green-car credentials among German brands, and it's said that Piech doesn't believe Winterkorn has the vision to do what's necessary. Having agreed to play along and now in "diplomacy phase," some say a little light has gone out of Piech's star inside the company, while others wonder if this battle is truly over. Related Video: News Source: Automotove News - sub. req.Image Credit: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Volkswagen martin winterkorn volkswagen group

VW Jetta GLI, Peugeot 505 are MotorWeek's 1986 Euro sport sedan alternatives

Video reviews have become a mainstay of automotive journalism, but long before every publication turned on its video cameras and started uploading to YouTube, there was one program that was blazing the trail. That, of course, was MotorWeek, the television car program produced by Maryland Public Television and hosted by the inimitable John Davis. The program first aired back in 1981, and after more than three decades in the business, it's got a considerable archive of old episodes to unearth. In this latest gem recovered from the MotorWeek back catalog, the program pitted two European sports sedans against each other: a Volkswagen Jetta GLI and a Peugeot 505 Turbo. That's right: back in the 1980s, Peugeot was still competing in the US marketplace. The forced-induction 505 may not have been enough to keep the French automaker in American showrooms, but it was enough to stand up against the VW. Which one won MotorWeek's favor? You'll just have to watch the six-minute clip to find out. News Source: MotorWeek via YouTube Volkswagen Peugeot Economy Cars Performance Videos Sedan vw jetta gli

Volkswagen could outsell GM in China for the first time in nine years

As of the end of November, Volkswagen had sold 70,000 more cars than General Motors in China in 2013, making it appear inevitable that VW will outsell GM there. The feat would return the German brand to the top of chart in China for the first time in nine years, but even the second-place getter won't be complaining too loudly: both automakers sold more than three million vehicles in a market pegged to hit 16 million sales this year.
Volkswagen said it could have sold more cars if it had had more production capacity in China. The arrival of a new-to-China Audi A4, a China-built A3 sedan, the VW Bora and Skoda Octavia, as well as an $18.2-billion-euro investment in the country to construct new factories, means VW should see its numbers grow in 2014. GM's lineup is expanding next year, too, adding four Chevrolet nameplates and two vehicles to its Baojun brand as it tries to get to five million in sales by 2015.
Among other automakers, Ford benefited from good product and woes for Japanese automakers over a territorial dispute with China, outselling Toyota by almost 32,000 units through the end of November. The Ford Focus is China's best-selling vehicle so far this year.