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Former Porsche boss Wiedeking won't face criminal charges over VW bid

Hedge fund managers have been suing Porsche for years now, alleging that the car company lied about its intentions during its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen, a gambit that caused them billion in losses. Over the same period, authorities in Stuttgart built a criminal case against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking (above, left) and Chief Financial Officer Holger Härter (right), filing charges in December 2012. When those fund plaintiffs lost their most recent court case, one of the dimming lights in the dark and receding tunnel was that the criminal investigation might unearth more evidence about Porsche's actions that could help the plaintiffs in pending litigation.
Bloomberg reports that another light has gone out, though, with a Stuttgart court dismissing the market manipulation case before going to trial because, as a court spokesperson said, "there wasn't enough evidence backing up the charges." When prosecutors get the files back from the court, they have a week to decide to refile, but unless they've been sandbagging evidence that could bolster the case, the only lights at the end of the tunnel will be those welcoming Wiedeking and Härter back to the world of legally unencumbered men.

France may still ban diesel vehicle sales

Legislators in France are not afraid to bring out the ban hammer when it comes to dirty vehicles. The city of Paris has implemented bans on old clunkers, and the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said in 2014 that diesel cars were a "mistake" and that the government would "progressively undo" the error. Now the national government has said it will not rule out banning sales of new diesel vehicles by Renault and Volkswagen if those companies don't answer more questions about their vehicles' emissions. Environment Minister Segolene Royal said last week that France wants more information about the VW diesel defeat device and Renault's engine software. "We will be asking the consumer fraud investigators and prosecutors to communicate any findings that will enable us to establish whether it's necessary to withdraw sales authorizations," Royal said. Royal has been making waves recently at the COP22 meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco and said that Donald Trump's environmental policies will be " absolutely catastrophic" and weaken the US' standing in the world. If the US doesn't want to lead on climate change efforts, she said, "China can take the place of the United States." She has also been involved in a controversy at home over votes that her staff made to allow higher emissions level from vehicles. Related Video: News Source: SpeedluxImage Credit: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Green Volkswagen Renault Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal segolene royal

VW outsells GM in China for first time in 8 years

In case you didn't know, Volkswagen is hell-bent on becoming the largest automaker in the world. The German carmaker has inched closer to that goal, having outsold General Motors in China last quarter for the first time in eight years.
Volkswagen's sales in China, its largest marker, increased by 21 percent last quarter to 704,991 units. Those numbers almost tripled GM's third-quarter growth, and were enough to beat out the American automaker's 664,765 sales. GM, however, still leads in year-to-date sales in China by a slim margin of around 77,000 units. The Asian nation also happens to be GM's largest market, and according to the report in Automotive News, China's car market may grow to be larger than the US, Japan and Germany combined in three years' time.
About the news his company was bested in China by VW last quarter, GM CEO Dan Akerson is quoted saying, "It's not whether you're the biggest car manufacturer. It's whether you want to be the most profitable." It should be noted of these figures that GM includes truck figures, yet excludes Hong Kong and Macau from its Chinese sales numbers, while VW does just the opposite. Through September of this year, Volkswagen had 5 of the 10 best selling vehicles in China. GM boasted three of the cars on that list.