When we talked about a four door version of Volkswagen’s hot-selling ( in Europe, not available stateside) small car, the Up!, one commenter in particular equaled the car to a happy meal container and its owners to baby killers. A small car can be very safe – if its engineers know what they are doing. It just so happens that that little happy meal container is proof of it. It was elected one of Europe’s safest cars.

The Porsche-Piëch clan, ca. 1942. Grandfather Ferdinand Porsche, brother Ernst Piëch, sister Louise Piëch and mother Louise Piëch-Porsche. Ferdinand Piëch (nicknamed "Burli") is sitting in the grass on the left.

Volkswagen does not own Porsche yet. For all intents and purposes, however, Porsche is part of Volkswagen. Volkswagen executives give orders from Porsche board seats. Porsche engineers need to consult Volkswagen Group R&D departments. Insular solutions at Porsche require a written permission from Wolfsburg.

“Actually, Piech and his minion, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, could leave it at that. The integration of both enterprises has progressed so far, that is does not make a difference whether Porsche morphs into a Volkswagen division, or remains legally independent.

Actually.”

After having been more or less luckless (Lupo, Fox ..) in the minicar category, Volkswagen appears to have finally found a winner with its autocorrect-busting Up! In Germany, the two-door city car immediately took first place in its class. In December, the Up! sold nearly the same as the former class champs Renault Twingo and Toyota Aygo sold together (see table.) To make backseat drivers more comfortable, Volkswagen introduces a four-door version of the Up!

Do you live in the Boston, Hartford, New York, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, or San Francisco MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area)? Do you see yourself as an adventurer and explorer? In that case, BMW wants to talk to you. BMW has pegged adventurers and explorers as “front-runners of innovation and advocates for sustainability.” These are the people BMW wants to “recruit” for a “field trial” of its Active E electric vehicles.

It will be a transformative experience. You will be turned into a green lab rat.

Porsche is not part of Formula 1, regular rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. This doesn’t keep Porsche from building and owning its own Formula 1 racecourse. In China. Atlanta and L.A. could be next. What for?

Chinese are snapping up Porsches at an alarming rate. Chinese took the three-monkey-approach to the tepid overall car market in 2011 and bought 65 percent more Porsches than in the year before. There is a 120 km/h (75 mph) speed limit on China’s freeways. Where can the rapidly growing crowd of Chinese Porsche drivers experience what their machine really can do?

In 2010, plans of a (by Porsche standards) low-priced cheap Porsche, a mid-engined, entry-level roadster based on the underpinnings of the Volkswagen BlueSport Concept were floated. The car was called a “modern-day 356 Speedster” by some.

On these pages, it was promptly called “a modern-day version of another Porsche Deadly Sin, the 914.”

Porsche decided to sin no more and ditched the roofless cheapo.

Do you live in or near a Cuban community? Drive a Mercedes? Noooooo! Leave it in the garage. Put a tarp over it.

The Cuban community hates Mercedes and Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche, despite his Cuban-sized mustache. Casus belli: At a presentation at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Zetsche praised the virtues of car sharing. Car sharing?

Zetsche said:

Are you the King of Spain, the Sultan of Brunai, Jay-Z, or the Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich? Check your mailbox. Volkswagen’s Bentley has sent you mail. Bentley wants to grieve with you over the passing of your beloved Maybach brand, and then, in a tasteful way, hopes will be expressed that your next car will be a Bentley.

In November, Daimler announced that it will bury Maybach (for an eulogy fittingly written by Jack Baruth, click here). This allegedly caused tears amongst the über-rich.

Bucolic Spartanburg, SC, will get a new boost when BMW drops $900 million on the plant to expand its capacity to 350,000 units per year. Spartanburg will become one of the world’s largest BMW plants. The BMW Group already invested USD 750 million in the expansion of the plant for production of the new BMW X3 between 2008 and 2010. Now, the plant is being expanded again to make room for the X4.

When we heard from Reuters about GM’s possible plan to shift production from its South Korean former Daewoo plants to Europe, we didn’t think that would be highly appreciated in South Korea. After duly reporting that there could be a deal afoot to mollify the German and European steelworkers union with jobs taken away from South Korea, we opined: Let’s see what the militant South Korean unions have to say about that.”

We did not have to wait long. The unions in South Korea already threaten war, and when they say war, they mean war.

When thinking about creating cost efficiencies, moving jobs to Asia usually comes to mind. GM has a different plan to bring profitability back to its hemorrhaging Opel unit. GM is considering bringing Chevrolet production from its Korean plants to Europe. In exchange for delivering jobs, GM expects concessions from the unions that would clear the way for a major cost-cutting operation necessary to stop the bleeding and to save the German patient from otherwise certain death. This is at the heart of a detailed report just filed by Reuters correspondents Christiaan Hetzner in Frankfurt and Ben Klayman in Detroit.

With 8.16 million cars delivered globally, sales of the Volkswagen group grew14.3 percent from 7.14 million in 2010. Volkswagen estimates that the global passenger car market grew only 5.1 percent, therefore, the Wolfsburg group expanded its global market share. With GM (due to report next month) expected to be in the low 9 million, and Toyota expected to be in the high 7 million, Volkswagen will end the year as the world’s #2 auto maker, behind GM and before Toyota.

It’s not that the cross-sharing of technologies between Renault-Nissan has been a well-kept secret. However, it is good to hear that loose alliances between unlikely partners work, while a marriages made in the automotive compatibility heaven (we are looking at you, Volkswagen & Suzuki) don’t even get to the consummation part.

Renault-Nissan announced today in Detroit that its Decherd, Tenn., plant will build Mercedes-Benz 4-cylinder engines for Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz starting in 2014.

Read this sentence carefully.

Why are Volkswagen and Porsche living together, but are not married? Because VW is worried about the outstanding lawsuits brought against Porsche by irate investors. Now suddenly Volkswagen lost that protection. Lawsuits are piling up right in front of Volkswagen’s own doorstep. At the court in Braunchweig, 20 miles away from Wolfsburg, billion dollar lawsuits are snowballing at an alarming rate.

Do you think that BMW and Mercedes are manly brands? Automotive News [sub] has a different opinion. BMW and Mercedes look childish, the industry rag says. Reason for this decree: The inability of both German luxury brands to show their numbers on time. AN sees two possible explanations for the delay. One explanation “is that the two companies have woefully inadequate sales-tracking software.”

AN does not buy into that one. AN thinks the more likely explanation is a playground showdown, where two boys compare their didis:

Usually, all automakers in the U.S. market report together on the same day of the month. This time it’s different. The world does not know exactly how many cars Americans bought in December and therefore for the year, because Daimler and BMW had not handed in their numbers.

BMW and Mercedes had been in a year-long battle for the luxury crown, a title that oddly enough only has cachet in the otherwise monarchy-averse U.S.A. where kings are used to measure beds and burgers. With annual sales in the quarter million territory, both players would be Mazda-sized, would it not be for the (sometimes doubtful) “luxury” title.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (9 – 22 January,) Porsche will unveil its latest topless 911, the 911 Cabrio. The more chaste 911 Coupé will be available in the USA starting in February 2012. The Cabriolet will follow a few months later, when the season allows public disrobing of your car.

Germans bought 244,501 cars in December, which brought German sales for the year 2011 to 3.17 million units, up 8.8 percent compared to 2010. According to data released by the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt, the German love affair with oil burners continues unabated: 47.1 percent of all newly registered cars run on diesel. In all of 2011, Germans bought 2,154 EVs and 12,622 hybrids.

Low cost cars? Who needs them. BMW’s CFO Friedrich Eichiner thinks that the premium segment is where the growth is. Eichiner projects the global auto market to go basically sideways by growing 4 percent in 2012. He expects the premium segment to grow twice as fast at 8 percent. That according to an interview given to Munich’s Süddeutsche Zeitung today. Of course that growth is not spread evenly around the world. Eichiner predicts that the European car market will remain flat this year. Growth potential is seen in the U.S. and China.

A good month after our trek to the South where we checked on the (un-) willingness of transplant workers to join the UAW, the hard-hitting team at the Reuters Detroit bureau did the same. In a special report, Reuters comes to the same conclusion as we did: It won’t be easy. Bernie Woodall and Ben Klayman of Reuters did more thorough digging. And they unearthed the secret strategy of the UAW: With the help of the German metalworkers union, they want to talk themselves into Volkswagen and Daimler:

Volkswagen’s 1,154 white-collar workers that have been issued smartphones by the company will get an unexpected (and possibly unwelcome) Christmas present: Silent Night in the in-boxes.

Volkswagen and its works council have agreed that the e-mail function will be deactivated at night, Reuters reports:

Germany’s luxobarge makers aren’t just happy selling their luxobarges to China. Now they want Chinese money straight up. Daimler is flirting with the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC), which may want to buy 5 or 10 percent of Daimler.

If, a few years ago, I would have suggested that the Chinese would buy more Mercedes, BMW and Audi than the Autobahn-addicted Germans, you would have suggested an increase in dosage. But the condition is incurable. China may overtake Germany as the world’s second-largest market for luxury cars, says Bloomberg. The largest market for upscale units remains the U.S. — until further notice.

Ever since Steve Girsky an his “merry band of hatchet men” touched down in Rüsselsheim, Bertel has been warning that GM’s European division was about to embark on a serious cutting binge. But our worst fears, namely that Opel could go away entirely, have yet to be realized. Instead it seems that self-destructive mutilation will be attempted first, in order to stem the gushing red ink at Opel where at least €1b in losses are expected next year. Automotive News Europe [sub] reports that the first round of cuts will hit Opel’s Internationalen Technischen Entwicklungszentrum (ITEZ, “International Technical Development Center), as an IG Metall union document foresees some 1,420 product development position cuts (from a staff of some 6,000).

We have been writing about it for years, now, Bloomberg wakes up to it:

“Volkswagen AG will kick off its biggest technology overhaul in almost two decades.”

Bloomberg still has a hard time of coming to grips with the technological revolution. It’s not just that “more than 40 models will use a set of standardized components such as axles, steering columns and chassis,” as Bloomberg puts it. This is not a parts bin exercise. Through the Volkswagen empire, cars don’t just share the same steering columns. They are designed using standardized building blocks of a common kit architecture.

Allegedly, GM wants to replace Opel and Vauxhall with Chevrolet in Europe, and turn the bow tie into a true global brand. Apparently, it wants to do this with a severely pruned-down dealer network. Chevy dealers in Germany watch every courier coming through the door with trepidation: Every fifth Chevy dealer in Germany will be handed a letter that tells him that his contract is being terminated, says Germany’s kfz-Betrieb.

As reason, insufficient sales are given. Uwe Heyman, a lawyer who manages the council of Opel and Chevrolet dealers in Germany, thinks the reason is likewise insufficient:

Without Opel, GM might not be the world’s largest automaker. But it would be a highly profitable automaker. Opel will cost GM approximately € 1 billion ($1.3 billion) in the coming year and will miss its restructuring plan. Reason for the shortfall: Opel will sell only 1.4 million cars next year, 100,000 less than budgeted. How do we know this? We don’t, but it is in an internal forecast of Opel. The document somehow came into the hands of the German magazine Capital.

With only two more weeks to go in the calendar year, TTAC names GM the world’s largest automaker of 2011, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota.

Pummeled by a catastrophic tsunami in March, followed by a massive flood in Thailand, Toyota’s production and sales numbers will take a serious hit in the calendar year 2011. Global production of Toyota and Lexus vehicles is forecasted to be “at least 6.9 million units, as compared with 7.7 million units last calendar year,” Toyota spokesman Dion Corbett told TTAC. Global sales for the calendar year 2011 are forecasted to be “at least 7 million units, as compared with 7.7 million units last calendar year.” Corbett confirmed that this number is without Daihatsu and Hino. Projections for these units are not available. Based on October data, we add another 900,000 for Daihatsu and Hino, which should bring the Toyota total into the neighborhood of 7.8 million units.

At the Tokyo Motor Show, the announcement that Toyota and BMW are in cahoots over batteries, diesel engines and possibly more was the talk of the show. Back in Bavaria, BMW displays a promiscuous bent. BMW will cooperate with GM, yes GM, on fuel cells. This at least if the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche is correctly informed.

Sources told Wirtschaftswoche that a cooperation between BMW and GM is as good as done.

Hyundai has a new and extremely successful spokesman. He is well-known, he can speak about cars with more authority than a football player. Best of all: He works pro bono. It is Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn. With a low-cost video, Winterkorn catapulted Hyundai’s image to formerly unknown heights.

The German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reports that the image of Hyundai took a leap a few days after Martin Winterkorn walked over to the Hyundai stand at the Frankfurt motor show and praised the non-rattling steering column.

Many years ago, an old school Volkswagen exec said to me: “If I want to have visions, I simply drink a few bottles more.”

How things have changed. Nowadays, if you want to be a CEO, you must have a vision. Winterkorn’s vision is world domination by 2018. His colleague Karl-Friedrich Stracke also has a brand new vision. According to Germany’s Focus Magazin, Stracke said at a meeting for the upper management:

Audi wants to take on BMW in the European luxury SUV segment. Walter de’ Silva, design boss at the Volkswagen Group, told Automotive News Europe [sub] that Audi will definitely take on the BMW X6 with an Audi Q, and might also field a challenger to the BMW X4.

For no immediately obvious reason, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has a long article today, which says that GM is running out of patience fast with its money-hemorrhaging Opel unit. The paper predicts new negotiations (read firings and plant closures) with the unions – “or worse.” (Read good riddance Opel.) The sound of rattling sabers is all over the article.

One of the most closely watched quality indicators in Europe and especially in Germany is the annual TÜV-Report. With German thoroughness, the report tells exactly which cars were naughty or nice. It’s the law: Three years after you buy a new car in Germany, it must be inspected by the Technischer Überwachungsverein. Thereafter, every two years. This is not your run-of-the-mill drive-to-the-gas-station-get-a-sticker exercise. At the TÜV, each car undergoes a thorough and invasive physical. Fail the physical, and it’s back to the shop. Fail again: No inspection sticker, get that POS off the road. No wonder that a date with the TÜV is considered as even less attractive than a meeting with the proctologist. One out of 5 cars fail the test on the first attempt.

Once a year, the TÜV compiles its TÜV-Report, using the actual results of the check. This is no J.D.Power CSI. This is the real world, a report compiled with screwdrivers, flashlights, emission probes, brake testers. Executives at automakers await the report with high anxiety. Bad positions on the list can be career-ending.

The TÜV-Report 2012 will be published on December 16. Some results are already dribbling out, but the list itself remains under wraps. We twisted some arms and finagled an advance copy (your Teutonic old boys network at work.) Let’s see who will be promoted and who should polish his resume.

With a strong November under its belt, BMW is planning the festivities for a record year. The BMW Group sold 138,978 units in November, up 7.7 percent over November 2010. For the year, global sales stand at 1,510,862 units in the first eleven months, up 14.5 percent.

The car business is tuning into a mutual admiration society. Volkswagen wants to be like Toyota, Toyota wants to learn from Nissan. Now, GM wants to learn from Volkswagen. GM’s Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky says that the new benchmark for GM is Volkswagen.

Despite still not having been amalgamated into the sprawling Volkswagen empire (blame the lawyers,) Porsche wants to do its share for Volkswagen’s all-out assault to the top. According to Strategie 2018, sorry, make that according to “Mach 18,” the Volkswagen empire wants to be on top in all respects before the decade ends. A small sports car company with barely 100,000 units won’t bring much volume, but they will try as much as they can. “Porsche aims to double its annual U.S. sales within seven years by dramatically expanding its product lineup — while maintaining its U.S. dealer body at almost the same size,” Automotive News Europe [sub] reports.

Porsche won’t even shy away from the unthinkable – like bringing diesels to America.

The German new car market appears to be unimpressed by the European tribulations. Germans bought 269.144 new cars in November, up 2.6 percent compared to November 2010. This according to registration data released by the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt.

Yesterday, first media day at the Tokyo Motor Show, the press corps was chased from press conference to press conference in 15 minute intervals. Today, the Fourth Estate was looking forward to lazy strolls through the halls, snapping pictures of attractive ladies cars, when an urgent email, followed by urgent telephone calls disturbed the peace: Come to the Grand Pacific Le Daiba at 4pm, when Toyota and BMW will hold a joint press conference. The local gang knows: When these short notice calls come, drop everything and show up, it will be interesting.

Toyota AND BMW? Let’s go!

Which European automaker is working on this compact, front-drive MPV? It might look like a VW or Opel, but in fact it’s coming from the Roundel itself. BMW will release this five-seat, start-stop-equipped van sometime in 2014, giving its Euro-market customers an alternative to Mercedes’s B-Class van. But because this is still a BMW, a two-liter turbo engine option will be offered, giving this otherwise humble little MPV a 245 HP kick. Still, this will be the most prosaic offering from a firm built around rear drive and six-cylinder engines. And though Mercedes is bringing at least one front-drive model to the US market, expect BMW to maintain its premium positioning here by keeping this MPV in the European market, where such efficient vehicles are not seen as being incompatible with a luxury brand.

In an interview with Germany’s Handelsblatt, Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn said:

„No question, 2012 will be come much tougher, particularly in Europe, and there especially in highly indebted countries like Italy or Spain.The market will shrink in 2012, and we will suffer from that. We expect the European market to get smaller next year. Also the developments in other areas of the world need to be monitored closely.”

On December 15, Winterkorn will prepare the Volkswagen management for the tough times. At a conference in Dresden, there will be “intensive discussions.” This according to an invitation Automobilwoche [sub] could get its hands on.

In Volkswagen-typical hyperbola, the „Strategie 2018“ has been renamed to „Mach 18“. It’s up to you whether you think this means 18 times the speed of light, or (read in German) „do it in 2018.“

Afterburners may be needed, because for the first time, Winterkorn is worried that he might fail:

German-Nipponese alliances are not going out of style, the Volkswagen/Suzuki soap notwithstanding. Toyota and BMW cut a diesel deal – if The Nikkei [sub] is correctly informed. They ran the story very early in the Japanese Saturday morning; hence no comment from Toyota is available. We’ll ask on Sunday, when we’ll see that mysterious RWD sports car.

According to The Nikkei, BMW will supply diesel engines for Toyota’s passenger vehicles sold in Europe. When and how many is unclear.

We have always maintained that what will get exports of Chinese cars in high gear is not Chinese cars, but foreign cars. Foreign cars, made by joint ventures in China. Nevertheless, I admit my high surprise to read, from China Daily to Chinacartimes, that BMW will export Made in China cars. And not their bread and butter 3 series.

BMW will become the first foreign luxury car manufacturer to export China-made cars when it begins shipping locally produced long-wheelbase 5 Series sedans overseas at the end of the year.

Suzuki’s suit against Volkswagen had precision timing. Or was very lucky. Volkswagen is heavily distracted by another suit, namely the EU Commission against the Federal Republic of Germany. Casus belli: The VW law. As indicated last week, Brussels is dragging Germany in front of the European Court of Justice. Brussels demands that the “special treatment” for Volkswagen is to be dropped. If the suit is successful, and if Germany remains obstinate, then a penalty of at least €46.6 million ($62.2 million) is demanded. A bargain, considering the hundreds of billions which are being moved around to avoid a meltdown of Europe. The fine would have to be paid by the German government, not by Volkswagen, writes Automobilwoche [sub]

Reuters reporter Ben Klayman, part of their stellar Detroit team, assisted by Christiaan Hetzner in Frankfurt, did a great piece about the grim options that await Steve Girsky and his merry band of hatchet men when they go over to Europe to whip Opel in shape. It could actually be the end of Opel instead of a glorious future, the report says.

“Options for restructuring Opel range from bad to worse and could include a form of bankruptcy, analysts and bankers say. Costs will have to be slashed further, steps that could include politically charged job cuts and plant closures in Europe. Girsky, who was named chairman of Opel’s supervisory board on Monday, could look for new partners for Opel to share costs, and even return to the idea of selling the brand once it has been repaired, analysts said.”

Adam Jonas, analyst at Morgan Stanley, Girsky’s former employer, says it best:

“You can’t say the words ‘all options are on the table, we rule out nothing’ unless there’s something fundamentally changing.”

One of my first jobs as a rookie copywriter in 1973 was the Passat. The Passat, basically a rebadged Audi 80, was the first of the new generation (Passat, Scirocco, Golf, Polo) that saved Volkswagen from eternal damnation and laid the groundwork for Volkswagen’s success today. (See, rebadging isn’t all that bad, it just has to be done right.) Ever since, well over 15 million Passat were built in all shapes and forms. And now, the Passat goes crossover.

First, the name: Passat Alltrack.

With engine management technologies creating ever-more refined, well-behaved engines, the snap-crackle-pop overrun at the beginning of this video is an increasingly rare throwback to the time when men were men and engines could blow up at any second. Sure, such playfulness will probably be managed out of existence by the time the F30 M3 hits dealerships, but it seems like a good omen for the M3’s return to six-cylinder power. In fact, it might even be possible that the backfire heard here has something to do with the electric turbocharger that’s rumored to give the new M3 lag-free turbo performance… but then you’d probably be a better judge of that than I.

When I was deposed for my divorce, the other side’s lawyer wanted to know, for some unimaginable legal purpose, how many times my then and soon to be disposed-of wife rode with me on my 90 mph offshore raceboat.

“Once.”

“And why was that?”

“It mussed up her hair.”

At which point my lawyer, who also knew her way around her husband’s much more powerful supercat raceboats, chirped in and said:

“It can get worse. Sometimes, the wind is known to rip your clothes off.”

The court reporter guffawed, then hit her keys with extra energy. The other side’s straight-laced lawyer blushed and moved on to other lines of questioning.

That little episode crossed my mind when I opened the email from Porsche which announced the impending (March 3 2012) availability of the topless models of the 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S in the new 911 design.

Opel workers and managers are deeply worried: It’s not just cuts that are coming. GM is sending a team of feared slashers. Says the Wall Street Journal:

“Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, GM’s second-highest-ranking executive, will become chairman of the Opel supervisory board. Tim Lee, president of GM’s international operations, and financial chief Daniel Ammann also will join the Opel board, the company said.”

Supposedly, GM was surprised and appalled that the European business hit GM’s bottom line with an operative loss of $292 million in the third quarter, despite increased sales. I am not surprised at all. I have always warned that restructuring Opel and cutting jobs is an expensive exercise. And those costs were mostly delayed into the third quarter.

Now Girsky and his team of handpicked hatchet men are coming.

Last Monday, we regaled you out with stories of Toyota coming to grips with the “new peak oil,” and other topics related to the growing gap ( or lack thereof?) between global production and consumption oil. This week I’m feeling a little less apocalyptic, and little bit more indulgent. And really, why not celebrate those precious hydrocarbons while they’re still cheap and plentiful? This Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series may burn ’em by the bushel, but it sure sounds good doing it. And though cars like the forthcoming 650 HP Shelby Mustang GT500 prove that performance is still alive in the 21st Century, high-revving, large-displacement, naturally-aspirated V8s like the AMG Black’s are going to be facing special challenges under future emissions standards. Which makes its gargling, chortling music all the sweeter to my ears…

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.