That interview with Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn is a treasure-trove of information. It also gives an insight into Volkswagen’s strategy with rambunctious Suzuki: It will be a Sitzkrieg.  Volkswagen seems to be intent on waiting things out until Osamu Suzuki passes away.

Winterkorn will be at the Tokyo Motor Show. Someone with a perverse bent made Volkswagen (booths EP06 through EP10) close neighbors of Suzuki (EP12). Only Mitsubishi (EP11) keeps the brawling couple at distance. But Winterkorn doesn’t have Osamu Suzuki on his dance card:

“A meeting is not planned. Should we run into each other, then we can talk about everything. There is one exception: Our 19.9 percent share is not for sale.”

Asked how Winterkorn intends to settle the matter, he answers: Read More >

Volkswagen had painted a bulls-eye on Toyota and wanted to beat the Japanese by 2018. At least in terms of production numbers, Volkswagen will have Toyota beat this year. Instead, VW has to contend with GM.

The long-term new energy strategy of Volkswagen and Toyota on the other hand could have been devised in a joint planning session. Volkswagen believes that near-term, the plug-in-hybrid has a great future, whereas Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn won’t live long enough to witness the boom of the pure electric car.

The German newspaper Handelsblatt has an interview today with Winterkorn. It echoes in large parts the interview which I had ten days ago with Toyota’s Chief Engineer Satoshi Ogiso. The two sound amazingly similar: Bullish on plug-in hybrids. Cautious on EVs. Read More >

Volkswagen personnel at the LA Auto Show is intently studying reactions to a Beetle with possibly 270 hp. After all, it was public reaction at the 1994 NAIAS that brought the New Beetle to life. Originally, it was meant as a lark, but enthusiasts pounded the table until the car was made. It suffered the fate of cars powered by enthusiasts: An initial pop, then declining numbers. On display in LA is what they call the “Beetle R Concept.”

Careful: This is NOT the 2012 Beetle Turbo as tested by Jack Baruth. If they ever build the Rrrrrr model (and the ooohs and aaahs in LAhhhhh will influence that), it will come with an impressive added oomph. Nothing is known about the motorization of the brawny bug, but Volkswagen’s press department offers-up enough material for educated guesses:

“At Volkswagen, the letter ‘R’ as an added identifier promises top-notch performance. Currently, this claim is being validated with turbo pressure by the Golf R with 199 kW / 270 PS of power and the Scirocco R (currently only in Europe) with 195 kW / 265 PS. As an ‘R’, the Beetle could demonstrate a performance potential similar to that of the Golf R and Scirocco R.”

Well duh, all three are based on the same platform. All it needed were extra air intakes for the blower and a rear spoiler that is “significantly larger than the one on Beetle production models with up to 200 PS in power” to generate the required “ideal downforce values.”

The old Volkswagen law is making headlines again. After three years of silence, the European Commission could drag Germany again in front of the European Court of Justice, Der Spiegel reports. A decision to sue could be made by Wednesday, sources of the German magazine say. Read More >

Are you familiar with the Fridolin? If so, hit the jump. If not, here’s the brief version of its history. Unhappy with its adorable but inadequate, two-cylinder Goggomobil Transporters, the German Postal Service approached Volkswagen and Westfalia in the early 60s, looking for a new interpretation of what it was looking for, namely “arbeitspsychologisch optimaler Ausstattung zu einem günstigen Anschaffungspreis.” This is a tough phrase to translate, but essentially it means “equipment optimized for the workplace psychology, at an affordable price,” and in 1963 that’s what the VW-Westalia team delivered. A mixture of Type 1 (Beetle), Type 2 (Bus) and Type 3 (Fastback/Squareback), the Type 147 was first shown to the German Post in 1963, and was quickly nicknamed “Fridolin” (an uncommon German boy’s name) apparently because workers said “it looks like a Fridolin.” Only 6,126 were built between 1964 and 1973, and they continue to enjoy a strong collector’s cachet (primarily as slammed campers, apparently). And now, Volkswagen wants to re-create the classic… for the future. 

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Attempts to ratchet-down the rhetoric in the Suzuki/Volkswagen row have failed. Suzuki launched a heavy missile in the direction of Wolfsburg. Suzuki will take the case to court, The Nikkei [sub] heard before a scheduled press conference in Tokyo. But fear not, Volkswagen gets a whole year to make up its mind. Read More >

Do you badly want a new mid-engined Porsche? Is the Boxster/Cayman combo still a bit rich for your blood, given the weak economy? Chances are you have been waiting patiently for news about Porsche’s “Baby Boxster,” the long-discussed, entry-level, flat-four-powered version of Volkswagen’s Bluesport concept. The sad news: you may be waiting quite a bit longer. In an interview with the FT Deutschland, Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller says

There is no decision to develop this car into production. The decision is due soon, but they may well drag on into next year

Why? Well that’s easy: Porsche’s number one priority is to remain the world’s most profitable automaker, with “at least” a 15% operating margin and a 21% return on capital. And it can hit its 200k sales by 2018 goal without adding a sixth or seventh model… thanks to the fact that its fifth model is an entry-level SUV, called the Cajun.
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From his dream of a UAW-represented VW plant in Tennessee (ha!) to his desire for a seat on the boards of the Detroit automakers (double ha!), UAW President Bob King has a way of idealizing the German unions. And no wonder: while the UAW spent decades fostering a radical sense of entitlement, German works councils entwined themselves with their respective employers, earning places of power among the world’s largest automakers. But unions are a delicate balancing act in every country and culture, and even Germany’s unions, widely hailed as the example for the industry, can run into trouble.

Last time it was Volkswagen’s powerhouse works council, which erupted in a scandal over VW-funded sex tourism (with free Viagra and shopping trips for the wives!) back in 2005. With Opel’s union boss, Klaus Franz, becoming caught up in his own (slightly less lurid) scandal, GM’s acknowledgment that more cuts could be coming for Opel could prove just as explosive for the German works council model.

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Germany’s Autobild continues to bang the drum about HFO-1234yf, an air-conditioning coolant sold by US supplier Honeywell as an “environmentally-friendly” alternative to other refrigerants. Problem is, C02 seems to be not only more environmentally safe, but safer for humans (notably rescue workers) as well…
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In case you need a car to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Le Mans Series, the American Le Mans Series, the International GT Open and others, Porsche suggests to consider its heavily reworked Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Read More >

New car sales in Europe’s largest market Germany are settling into levels slightly above last year, as registration data by Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt show. With 258.253 cars sold in October, sales in the month were 0.6 percent above the same month in the prior year. 10 months into the year, Germans registered 2.66 million new cars, up  9.8 percent compared to the same period in 2010. Read More >

Nine months in to the year, the BMW Group already delivered 1,232,584 units to customers, up 16 percent from the same period in the previous year. BMW is well on track of meeting its 1.6 million goal this year. And who says you can only make money when you are one of the top 5 carmakers? Read More >

Journos are congregating at an undisclosed location near the Chelsea Dog Run Park in downtown Manhattan as I write this, for the first ever unveiling of the BMW i3 and BMW i8 concept cars in North America. The sneak preview is being held before the cars get shipped to Los Angeles for the LA  Auto Show. The  mostly carbon fiber built battery operated and hybrid-electric vehicles had already been shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but here they are, on America soil.  Read More >

Dateline  Istanbul: Accompanied by Turkish bellydancer music  rock’n’weave, BMW launches its new open-top two-seater MINI Roadster in Turkey’s capital. But is that TWO GUYS? in front? Where is the fun of that?

With the Passat moving from a poor-selling but Euro-premium sedan to a cheaper, more mass-market design, it was inevitable that the Passat CC “four door coupe” version would change as well. Unfortunately, in order to make it more similar to the new “Das Impala”-style Passat, VW had to really tone down the design. So much so, that you almost have to wonder who is going to buy this car on style alone… which is the whole point of having a “four door coupe” version of a sedan. But hey, at least it won’t be outselling the Passat anymore, as it has for much of the last several years. Mission accomplished?