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Weekly Recap: Volkswagen moves forward under Muller

Most stunning was the speed of it all. On the morning of September 18, Volkswagen AG stood atop the automotive world. It was profitable and sold more cars than Toyota and General Motors, its two main rivals for global supremacy. By nightfall, the company would be embroiled in scandal. Revelations the German auto giant cheated on diesel emissions testing in the United States reverberated from Washington to Wolfsburg, Germany. What started out as a problem with 482,000 VWs and Audis in the US exploded into an international scandal. Millions of vehicles have the rigged software, meaning VW broke environmental rules as its cars spewed pollutants all over the world. The fallout began immediately. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn – one of the most respected and capable executives in the business – apologized on Sunday and Tuesday. On Wednesday he resigned. As the week progressed, the company's stock took a beating and credit agencies threatened to drop their ratings. VW dealers and owners said they felt betrayed. The automaker hired a law firm that defended BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The EPA is already extending its testing procedures to look for "defeat devices" like the ones used by Volkswagen. On Friday the company announced a major restructuring. Matthias Muller, Porsche's chief for the last five years, took over as CEO of Volkswagen and is charged with picking up the pieces of a shattered company facing regulatory action and lawsuits. With GM, Toyota, and Takata scandals still fresh, Volkswagen will likely experience unprecedented levels of scrutiny. Additionally, VW's markets in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will be combined into a North American region under the leadership of former Skoda boss Winfried Vahland, though US chief executive Michael Horn will stay on. The company is also realigning its brands by specialty and streamlining its board. Firings, government action, restructurings, and international outrage – things that usually build up over months or years – all occurred in about a week. With dizzying speed, Volkswagen's future has changed dramatically. It all happened, it's still happening, so fast. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 Buick Cascada to start at $33,990 Buick hasn't made a convertible in 25 years. That's a whole person who can drink plus a kindergartner. So it's been awhile. Enter the 2016 Buick Cascada. It has top-shelf Opel engineering, slinky design, and it's reasonably priced.

Carlos Ghosn's arrest casts doubt on future of Renault-Nissan alliance

For years, France's Renault and Japan's Nissan struggled to make money in the global auto business. Then came Carlos Ghosn, a Renault executive who helped to orchestrate an unprecedented transcontinental alliance, combining parts of both companies to share engineering and technology costs. Now Ghosn's arrest in Japan for alleged financial improprieties at Nissan could put the nearly 20-year-old alliance in jeopardy. Ghosn, 64, born in Brazil, schooled in France and of Lebanese heritage, is set to be ousted this week from his spot as Nissan chairman. He could also lose his roles as CEO and chairman of Renault, threatening the alliance formed in 1999 that's now selling more than 10 million automobiles a year. He's been "the glue that holds Renault and Nissan together," Bernstein analyst Max Warburton wrote in a note to investors. "It is hard not to conclude that there may be a gulf opening up between Renault and Nissan." In fact, Nissan's investigation into alleged misconduct by Ghosn is expanding to include Renault-Nissan finances, sources told Reuters — in a further sign that Nissan may seek to loosen its French parent's hold on their global carmaking alliance. Nissan told Renault's board on Monday it had evidence of potential wrongdoing at Renault-Nissan BV, the Dutch venture overseeing alliance operations under Renault's ultimate control, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Renault's board planned to meet Tuesday to discuss Ghosn's fate. "Carlos Ghosn is no longer in a position where he is capable of leading Renault," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told France Info radio, calling on Renault's board to meet "in the coming hours" to set up an interim management structure. The French government owns 15 percent in Renault and has a say in its operations. Nissan's board is to meet Thursday to consider Ghosn's fate. Nissan has said it will dismiss Ghosn after he was arrested for allegedly abusing company funds and misreporting his income. That opens up a leadership void at the entire alliance, for which Ghosn officially still serves as CEO and chairman. Ghosn added Mitsubishi to the alliance two years ago after the tiny automaker was caught in a gas-mileage cheating scandal. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan, which owns 15 percent of Renault, with no voting rights in a partnership that began in 1999. Since 2016, Nissan has held a 34 percent controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motor Corp.

EZ-Charge program will get rolled out for all vehicles [UPDATE]

UPDATE: It appears that Chargepoint has pulled out of the program. It looks like a myriad of vehicles will be eligible for the single-card recharging program under NRG Energy's NRG eVgo division. The EZ-Charge platform that Nissan said last month would allow Leaf owners to use multiple vehicle recharging networks with a single card will soon be offered to other plug-in vehicles. eVgo will start sending out EZ-Charge cards this summer to various markets in Northern and Southern California and Texas as well as the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix, Nashville and Washington, DC. EZ-Charge uses a single card that is good for eVgo stations as well as stations within the ChargePoint, Blink and AeroVironment networks. It will debut in 10 EZ-Charge markets on July 1. By mid-2015, 15 more markets will be added. Nissan announced the 'No Charge to Charge' program last month at the New York Auto Show. Nissan said at the time that Leaf buyers would get two years of free charging, but individual charging sessions were limited to 30 minutes at CHAdeMO stations and an hour at the more-common Level 2 stations. The automaker also estimated that the 25 markets included by next year account for more than 80 percent of US Leaf sales. Take a look at NRG's press release below. NRG eVgo Introduces New Convenience to Electric Vehicle Charging First-of-Its-Kind EZ-Charge All-Access Card gives EV drivers convenience to use chargers from multiple charging providers PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This summer, NRG eVgo, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG), will roll out the EZ-Charge (SM) platform, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will offer electric vehicle (EV) drivers the ability to access multiple EV charging networks with a single all-access card. "For too long, EV drivers have been limited to only the chargers that were in their network meaning they might drive past a number of charging stations in other company's networks before they could get to one they could use with their current provider" The EZ-Charge platform will enable drivers of any electric car make or model to carry a single access card for charging on multiple networks, much like consumers today carry a single credit card to access multiple retailers.