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Piech is back (kinda) at VW

Before the company was rocked by the diesel emissions scandal, you would've thought that the ouster of Ferdinand Piech as chairman of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board in April was the biggest corporate news from the automaker all year. After all, the longtime exec was a towering figure in the German auto industry. He wasn't gone for long, though. In a fascinating article, The Wall Street Journal breaks down how Piech is now wielding influence within the giant corporation yet again. Piech's continued sway has come in part because two people close to him have started running the company. His resignation reportedly came because Piech was supporting Matthias Muller as next group CEO, rather than Martin Winterkorn. Now, Muller has achieved exactly that role. In addition, Hans Dieter Potsch has taken over as supervisory board chairman. He's also the chief financial officer at Porsche SE, the family holding company that controls a vast swath of VW stock. "The Porsche-Piech family will exert more influence over the company in the future," an anonymous person close to the board said to The Wall Street Journal. Piech appears fully aware of his changing fortunes within the company, too. According to the WSJ, he and his wife Ursula arrived at the VW factory's main gates in a red Bentley the day after WInterkorn's resignation. If you find all of these corporate machinations fascinating, then the piece is well worth a read.

New Volkswagen Beetle is on the way

Recent reports have suggested that the future of the Volkswagen Beetle could be in jeopardy, but those rumors have now been squashed. Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser, member of the board of management responsible for development at Volkswagen, confirmed to Autoblog that not only will the Beetle live on, a new generation will arrive in "the next up to three years." The next Beetle will move to Volkswagen's scalable MQB architecture. These bones currently underpin the Golf in the US, as well as a range of products available in Europe and other markets. That's not really surprising, given the MQB architecture's flexibility. But what's interesting is that, according to Neusser, using the MQB platform opens the door for electrification possibilities in the Beetle. That could mean a hybrid drivetrain, or even a fully electric example like the e-Golf hatchback. The Beetle "will remain an emotional design," Neusser told Autoblog. That said, it will be "developed in a new design language," in keeping with Volkswagen's plans to offer "much more dynamic, much more emotional" designs on its future cars. "We would like to support more emotional potential [for the Beetle]," Neusser said. This can certainly be seen here at the New York Auto Show, where Volkswagen is rolling out four showcars that demonstrate the potential for unique versions of the Bug. Even beyond that, Volkswagen has already confirmed that the Beetle Dune concept will see production, and Neusser hinted that while the New York showcars are still being evaluated, the Denim convertible will likely come to market. So the future is anything but grim for the Beetle. And in fact, there's a whole lot of potential for Volkswagen's iconic two-door. Related Video:

Autoblog Podcast #366

Episode #366 of the Autoblog podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Jeff Ross and George Kennedy of Boldride.com talk about the 2015 Lincoln Navigator, Volkswagen's US market woes, and the drama at the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the new rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along after the jump with our Q&A. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #366:
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