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VW could look outside its own ranks for next CEO

Companies have two options when coming up with succession plans – hire within, or go outside its ranks. Either choice comes with advantages and disadvantages, to be sure. Hiring within means generally getting someone familiar with the company and its culture and traditions, while going outside is ideal if you're looking to shake things up and bring in fresh ideas. It's unclear which avenue the Volkswagen Group will go down when it comes time to replace its head man, Herr Professor Doctor Doctor Herr Martin Winterkorn, but he isn't ruling out a trip outside of Wolfsburg. Winterkorn has already given the reins of the VW brand to former BMW board member Herbert Diess, while Andreas Renschler, a former Daimler board member, is heading up VW's truck group. Now, Winterkorn has made some statements to a German weekly that indicate the most important thing about his successor isn't necessarily his (or her, though no women appear to be on the short-list) previous employer, Motoring.com.au is reporting, so much as his qualities as a leader and an engineering background. "A Volkswagen boss has to have a big affinity to our products. He needs to be close to customers and he needs to have a relationship with dealers," Winterkorn told Stern. "Like always, it depends on the personality and it also helps if the candidate is an engineer." Motoring throws out a couple of potential candidates from within, including Porsche boss Mathias Muller, Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler and engineering guru Ulrich Hackenberg, in addition to both Diess and Renschler. And while each candidate has a lot of potential, the only thing that's guaranteed right now is what Winterkorn has already said: "The decision about who will succeed me is not an easy one for the supervisory board."

She's just a girl... who's an E28 fanatic

Ashley Rodriguez has a thing for the BMW E28. The amateur train photographer has owned over 15 of the cars in her brief lifetime, and says she's attracted to the old 5 Series because of how rare they are. All told, she's owned every variation of the E28 with the exception of the 2.4td, and the crew from Petrolicious recently stopped by to train their lenses on her most recent acquisition: a lovely M535i. The site's latest video, Rare Things, takes a closer look at just what draws Rodriguez to the E28 and how her passion for the cars has evolved over the years.
As usual, Petrolicious serves up plenty of gorgeous footage of the vintage German sedan, and anyone who's ever harbored an obsession over any one particular model can certainly hear a few chords ring true in Rodriguez's words. Check out the clip below to see what we mean.

Will global automakers drop local JV partners if China's government says they can?

Chinese economic policies could be in for a big change, as President Xi Jinping pushes the communist country to open its domestic markets even further. That could mean big things for the auto industry, especially when it comes to the country's far-reaching joint-venture system.
According to Chinese law, foreign automakers may only maintain a fifty-fifty partnership with their domestic counterparts. But with Jinping's push for openness leading to potential free-trade deals, that policy could be relaxed (or eradicated all together) in short order. What's an automaker to do?
Well, in BMW's case, stay the course. Automotive News Europe reports that, despite the grumblings about the JV policy changes, the German manufacturer has resigned its agreement with Brilliance through 2028. This is made doubly remarkable by the fact that BMW signed the extension over three years before it was set to expire.