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VW outsells GM in China for first time in 8 years

In case you didn't know, Volkswagen is hell-bent on becoming the largest automaker in the world. The German carmaker has inched closer to that goal, having outsold General Motors in China last quarter for the first time in eight years.
Volkswagen's sales in China, its largest marker, increased by 21 percent last quarter to 704,991 units. Those numbers almost tripled GM's third-quarter growth, and were enough to beat out the American automaker's 664,765 sales. GM, however, still leads in year-to-date sales in China by a slim margin of around 77,000 units. The Asian nation also happens to be GM's largest market, and according to the report in Automotive News, China's car market may grow to be larger than the US, Japan and Germany combined in three years' time.
About the news his company was bested in China by VW last quarter, GM CEO Dan Akerson is quoted saying, "It's not whether you're the biggest car manufacturer. It's whether you want to be the most profitable." It should be noted of these figures that GM includes truck figures, yet excludes Hong Kong and Macau from its Chinese sales numbers, while VW does just the opposite. Through September of this year, Volkswagen had 5 of the 10 best selling vehicles in China. GM boasted three of the cars on that list.

Winterkorn kept diesel scandal secret, letter claims

Former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn allegedly kept quiet for two weeks about emissions defeat devices in the company's models. US officials eventually made the automaker's deception public on September 18th. "In the conversation on 03.09.2015 with the regulator CARB (California Air Resources Board), the defeat device was admitted," an employee told Winterkorn on September 4, according to Reuters citing Germany's Bild am Sonntag. Based on this information, Winterkorn had plenty of time to admit the problem. Evidence like this letter continues to suggest top figures knew about the emissions problem. In addition, a separate Bild am Sonntag report recently claimed that an employee emailed Winterkorn in May 2014 to tell him US regulators could discover the cheating. In the lower echelons of the company, the deception was allegedly an open secret among engineers as early as 2006, and people kept quiet even after workers tried to admit what was happening. This culture of secrecy seems to go even deeper than just the diesel emissions scandal. For example, engineers admitted that they cheated on CO2 tests to meet the company's strict standards. According to Green Car Reports, these problems also affected the US. In 2004, an Audi worker in America allegedly discovered an issue with the exhaust gas temperature sensor in some vehicles, but a German executive said not to admit the problem to US regulators. It's not clear whether any high level employees tried to fix the diesel emissions issue or if they simply kept the problem hidden. The company's internal report, which is due in the latter half of April, might address that concern. So far, the VW Group has said only a small group of people caused the scandal. However, these many allegations to the contrary make that claim difficult to believe. Related Video:

Recall on VW diesels begins in January, Mueller claims

A recall on Volkswagen's diesel vehicles with cheating software has been inevitable since the scandal first came to light, but there has been little official word on a timeframe for the fix. The automaker's new CEO Matthias Muller has finally put a tentative date on repairs, though. "If all goes according to plan, we can start the recall in January. All the cars should be fixed by the end of 2016," Muller said to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Reuters reports. While this plan affects Europe, the timing for repairs in the US could be slightly different. The Environmental Protection Agency needs to test the fix first here to make sure that it brings the vehicles in line with emissions regulations. Before the scandal came to light publicly, VW already tried a software update, but the California Air Resources Board still found NOx levels to be too high. Some experts have speculated that whatever the automaker comes up with this time could affect performance and fuel economy. To make lemonade out of these very sour lemons, Muller is trying to position the scandal as a chance to change. "This crisis gives us an opportunity to overhaul Volkswagen's structures," the CEO said, according to Reuters. "We want to make the company slimmer, more decentralized and give the brands more responsibility." Still, the effects are definitely being felt inside the automaker. When addressing employees recently, Muller admitted the necessity of cutbacks and the likelihood of setting aside even more money to pay for international fines and settlements. "What isn't absolutely vital will be canceled or delayed," he said. Related Video: