Toyota and Honda have such powertrains, and so have VW and Audi.

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Its bread-and-butter marques, of course, are VW and Audi passenger cars.

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Winterkorn worked in a variety of quality and production roles at VW and Audi, earning a reputation as a boss who obsesses about the tiniest product details.

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VW-subsidiary Audi's sales in China rose 30% last year to 405, 838 cars, while BMW's surged 40% to 326, 444.

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Daimler aims for its Mercedes brand to overtake BMW and VW's Audi as the world's biggest selling luxury carmaker by 2020.

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The new VW Golf and Audi A3, for example, are the first of about 40 new small and midsize models that will be developed using the small-car tool kit.

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Mr Schreyer spent a decade with VW Group as head of Audi and head of Volkswagen design.

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Besides VW itself, there is Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, SEAT, Skoda, MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, most of which are multibillion-dollar businesses in their own right.

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VW's new Touran minivan, Touareg SUV, Audi A3, and new versions of the Golf and Passat, all coming in the next couple of years, could make up for the Phaeton stumble and eventually bring relief from recent troubles.

FORBES: Vehicles Feature