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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

Next Volkswagen Golf R to get 286 horsepower?

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf hasn't launched in the United States just yet, but we're already setting our sights on the range-topping R model. According to Autocar, the next Golf R will be more powerful than the current version, producing 268 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, making it the most powerful production Golf ever.
Powering the new Golf R will be a further evolution of Volkswagen's well-liked 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four, and when mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, the hotter hatch will reportedly be able to sprint to 62 miles per hour in five seconds flat. That's over half a second quicker than the current US-spec model.
Other updates for the new Golf R include the addition of VW's Haldex 5 all-wheel-drive system found in the latest iteration of 4Motion. Furthermore, thanks to the use of lightweight materials, the new R is expected to weigh in around 2,650 pounds - that's a massive 675 pounds less than the current US-spec car. The exhaust has reportedly been reworked to provide more aural delight, as well.

Former Porsche CEO Wiedeking indicted over VW takeover bid

Do you recall the failed efforts by Porsche to take over Volkswagen? According to a Bloomberg report, former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking (above) and ex-CFO Holger Haerter have finally been charged with market manipulation over the exercising of options as part of the German sportscar manufacturer's ill-fated attempt to take over the much larger VW. That failed bid eventually resulted in the reverse coming true - VW swallowing Porsche.
The charges leveled by Stuttgart prosecutors come after a three-year investigation centered around allegations that Porsche execs made a concerted effort to increase the company's share in VW to 75 percent in preparation for a hostile takeover. Porsche had previously told its investors on at least five occasions that it had no intention to buy VW.
Portions of the investigation have subsided, according to prosecutors, citing an inability to prove certain improprieties with a "necessary degree of certainty." The number of charges is down to 5 from a previous 14 counts regarding "information-based market manipulation."