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Winterkorn remains CEO of Volkswagen's majority shareholder

Martin Winterkorn may have stepped down as the chief executive of Volkswagen in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, but he's not out from under the company's large umbrella just yet. In fact, according to a report from Reuters, he still holds four top-level positions not only within the industrial giant's bureaucracy, but at the top of it. And one of those is as CEO of the company's largest shareholder. That holding company is Porsche SE, the investment arm of the Piech and Porsche families (Ferdinand Porsche's descendants) which holds over 50 percent of VW's shares. In 2008, Porsche SE acquired majority interest in the Volkswagen Group which in turn acquired Porsche the automaker – and placed VW's Winterkorn at the head of the executive board of the holding company. Though Winterkorn has resigned from his position as chairman of VW's management board, he has apparently yet to step down from running Porsche SE. That's not the only job that Winterkorn still retains in VW's senior management. He also continues to serve as chairman of Audi, as well as truck manufacturer Scania, and the new Truck & Bus GmbH into which Scania has been grouped together with Man. It remains unclear if or when Winterkorn might resign from those positions as well, or how his tenure in those posts might affect the company's effort to start over in the aftermath of the scandal in which it is currently embroiled. Also unclear, Reuters reports, is how much, exactly, Winterkorn will receive in compensation after having stepped down from his chair at the head of the VW executive board. His pension is reported at over $30 million, but he could be awarded a large severance package as well amounting to as much as two years' worth of his annual compensation, which amounted to around $18 million last year. Whether he receives the severance pay or not is expected to depend on whether his resignation is considered by the supervisory board to have been the result of his own missteps or independent of the situation that resulted in his resignation. One way or another, he's not likely to go poor anytime soon.

Volkswagen profit jumps as it warns of a cooling auto market

FRANKFURT, Germany — Volkswagen says its profits jumped 44% in the third quarter thanks to a more profitable mix of vehicles in its lineup but warned that global car markets are slowing more than expected and lowered its forecast for annual sales. After-tax profit rose to $4.42 billion (3.98 billion euros) as revenues rose 11% to $68.27 billion (61.42 billion euros). The sales margin of 7.8% exceeded the goal of 6.5-7.5% as vehicles bringing higher profits took a larger share of sales. The Wolfsburg-based automaker pointed to the headwinds facing the industry by saying that it expects "vehicle markets will contract faster than previously anticipated in many regions of the world." It said sales would be "on a level" with last year's record of 10.8 million vehicles. Previously it had expected a slight increase. The company said its profits would be in the lower end of its forecast range. Global automakers are facing a slowdown in sales amid disputes over trade and from pressure in the European Union and China to develop and sell low-emission vehicles that require heavy investment in new technology. Ford and Renault have issued profit warnings in recent days, while Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, lost money in the second quarter and is expected to outline a cost-cutting strategy for investors on Nov. 14. Volkswagen is leading the push into electric vehicles in Europe by launching its ID.3 battery-powered compact car at prices it says will make zero local emission vehicles a mass phenomenon. The company was able to increase earnings in the quarter despite an 18% rise in spending on research and development.

VW uses NorCal Forest to make e-Golf carbon neutral

On the one hand, it's just a forest. There are beautiful redwood trees and clean air, cool, quiet creeks and hidden wildlife. You know, a forest. The kind that have existed for millions of years. On the other, it's a carefully managed collection of natural resources that lets companies pay money to make their products more beneficial to the environment. Welcome to the Garcia River Forest. For our purposes, the Garcia River Forest is interesting because of its connection to Volkswagen. Its young redwoods are helping Volkswagen create something almost unheard of in the automotive industry: a (mostly) carbon-neutral car. The 10,000-foot overview of how this works is as follows: when you buy the electric car, part of your money goes to support three carbon offset projects. These projects (the one in the Garcia River Forest, the Big River And Salmon Creek Forests in California, and the McKinney Landfill in Texas) have put a price on the value of not letting more carbon get into our atmosphere. The calculations come in the form of credits per metric ton of CO2 and VW has paid enough money to cover the emissions it generates during the production and distribution of the e-Golf as well as the charging for around 36,000 miles of driving. VW worked with 3Degrees, a provider of carbon offset services, to calculate the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that each e-Golf will be responsible for, from the factory to the driveway. The Garcia River Forest location is managed by The Conservation Fund (TCF). VW originally announced the carbon-neutral program back when it revealed US details for the e-Golf, in August 2013. Stuart Gardner, project manager at VW of America for the Golf family, told AutoblogGreen that the idea for the carbon offset came from the way VW understands plug-in vehicle buyers. "At Volkswagen, we strive to be leaders in e-mobility and developing alternative powertrains and we realize that, when someone buys an electric vehicle - the e-Golf, for example - they are doing more than just buying an electric vehicle," he said. "They are buying a lifestyle and they want to engage in this lifestyle." VW is not releasing the specific amount of the purchase price of each e-Golf that is directed to the Garcia River Forest (or any other carbon offset projects).