Here's nice piece of car-business analysis, from north of the border. Volkswagen wants to take another crack at the North American market, and according to biz writer Eric Reguly of The Globe and Mail, VW might be able to pull it off, despite some major hurdles. However, when it comes to the larger goal of knocking Toyota off its perch...well, there are some problems.
First and foremost, VW needs to take on North America and the Toyota hegemony in partnership with Porsche. And, according to Reguly, who cites German press reports, Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and VW chief Ferdinand Piech don't get along to well. As far as we can tell, Wiedeking is ticked off because VW has a deal that prevents the sort of cost-cutting measures that Porsche wants to implement at VW, as Porsche moves toward owning most of VW. Sounds like a potentially juicy automotive soap opera to us.
And props to Reguly for laying it all out so cleanly, with just a tantalizing hint of speculation. We're keepin' an eye on that guy.