1987 Vw Vanagon Syncro on 2040-cars

Auto blog

VW CFO Hans Dieter Potsch nominated as new board chairman

The search for a successor to Ferdinand Piech has come to an end as the Volkswagen Group has nominated a new chairman. The Executive and Nomination committees of VW's Supervisory Board have put their weight behind one Hans Dieter Potsch, who currently serves on the company's management board as its chief financial officer. He's expected to continue in his current role until November when an extraordinary general meeting of the supervisory board can be called to confirm his nomination and a replacement CFO can be found to take his place. As you may recall, the chairmanship of the Volkswagen board fell until recently to Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and one of the principals of the Porsche family that holds over 50 percent ownership in Volkswagen through Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Piech went head to head with VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and ultimately lost. Piech resigned and Winterkorn is about to have his term as chief executive extended through the end of 2018. In Piech's place, former union head Berthold Huber was named as interim chairman, but is now referred to in the statement below once again as deputy chairman instead. An Austrian native, Potsch is an industrial engineer by training. He started his career at BMW where he ultimately served as group controller, and subsequently served as CFO and as chairman at a number of German corporations. Potsch joined the VW management board in 2003, initially without portfolio, and soon assumed the financial portfolio – a role he has held until now. In 2009 he took on the additional role of chief financial officer at the Porsche holding company, whose supervisory board representatives are the parties proposing Potsch's nomination as the group's new chairman – even though he is not, strictly speaking, one of their own. In a related development, it appears that Julia Kuhn-Piech will be leaving her board seat sooner than expected. The departing chairman Ferdinand Piech opposed his niece's nomination to the board in his place, and now she'll apparently be stepping down to make way for the family's new choice of chairman.

VW Golf R 400 reportedly green-lit (again)

After speaking to Volkswagen powertrain boss Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser at the 2015 New York International Auto Show, we uncovered that the Volkswagen Golf R 400 would be sold in the United States... if it ever made it to production at all, that is. That prerequisite looks like it's about to be fulfilled, as the same good doctor that said the super-powered GTI would come to the US has confirmed to Car that development is currently underway. This follows up on reports from late 2014 that the 400-horsepower car would make production. "We have the Golf more sporty than ever before, since we soon will have the Golf R 400 – we will do this car," Neusser told Car. "We are in fact in development of it right now." That is, we think you'll agree, splendid news. Of course, it also begs the question of when the new car will arrive. According to Car, it'll be just "a few short months," indicating that the Frankfurt Motor Show will likely host the Golf R 400's debut later this year. Whether that proves correct, though, likely won't be clear until later this summer.

VW apprentices prep Golf GTI Dark Shine, Variant Biturbo for Worthersee

Volkswagen not only cooks up some pretty tempting concepts of its own for the GTI-Treffen at Worthersee every year (and encourages its sister brands to do the same), but also gives its apprentices the opportunity to do it. And here's what they came up with this year. Called the GTI Dark Shine edition, the show car features an upgraded 2.0-liter turbo four, pumping out 389 horsepower and 359 pound-feet of torque through its dual-clutch transmission. But that's not all. As you can see, it also has a striking two-tone livery of metallic gray and yellow pearl, along with a stainless steel exhaust, carbon air box, an upgraded aero kit, a 3,500-watt audio system with eight speakers and a thoroughly reworked interior done up to match the bodywork in black Alcantara and carbon leather with yellow trim. The team of 13 apprentices built the show car from a body-in-white over the course of nine months. It follows in a long line of GTI concepts done each year by VW apprentices that stretches back to 2008. This year, however, another team of 14 interns at the plant in Zwickau, Germany, worked up a blue Golf Variant wagon called the Biturbo Edition with the twin-turbo diesel from the Passat good for 236 hp and 368 lb-ft. Another team in the Czech Republic was responsible for the Fabia FUNstar pickup concept. And of course the automakers themselves showcased the radical Golf GTE Sport, GTI Clubsport, Skoda Fabia Combi R5 and Audi TT Clubsport. The lake is calling ... world premiere: Volkswagen apprentices present their Golf GTI Dark Shine at Worthersee event - Other show car premieres: Golf Variant Biturbo Edition (Zwickau) and SKODA FUNstar (Mlada Boleslav) They have followed the call of the lake: 13 Wolfsburg apprentices from Volkswagen and group company Sitech Sitztechnik have traveled to the 34th Worthersee GTI meeting today to present their 395 PS (290 kW) Golf GTI Dark Shine to the public for the first time. Their sporty two-door Golf features a two-tone color scheme. The front is painted in dark Daytona Grey Metallic and the rear in unique R-yellow pearl effect – giving rise to the name "Dark Shine". The Golf GTI Dark Shine is impressive confirmation of the high-quality practically oriented training provided by Volkswagen.