Today in the Tell Us How You Really Feel file we have Bernd Osterloh, head of Volkswagen AG's Group Works Councils and member of the company's supervisory board, labeling the company's US operations "a disaster." Why? Because Osterloh believes VW of America doesn't have the models it needs to be competitive here, hasn't been decisive enough about its plans and German higher-ups still don't understand the US market.

In truth, the top labor rep at the German conglomerate is echoing sentiments we've heard from VWoA executives for years, and there's been the same commentary from dealers: Germany doesn't pay enough attention to what the US market really wants. Even ex-VWoA CEO Stefan Jacoby, who preceded the recently departed Jonathan Browning, said early in his tenure that one of his tasks was to get his German bosses to start delivering what the US market demanded. New CEO Michael Horn is saying much the same thing seven years later, telling Sky News that it has to increase "the speed at which we bring new models to the market and innovation to the market."

Osterloh wants to get "more models" here, including a pickup truck, but we'd wonder if the economics have changed from when Jacoby said they'd need to sell 100,000 per year to make money. Osterloh also wants a decision on where the CrossBlue will be built. Although it looked as if the Chatanooga, TN plant would get the call, the Puebla, Mexico plant is still in the running because of lower operating costs. No matter what happens right now, Osterloh thinks the situation won't get better for another two years when revamped models arrive, but at least the company can start taking the steps for a better US future.

Every year when we start talking about which automaker is the biggest in the world, there always seems to be at least a little bit of controversy. For 2013, Toyota handily took the top spot with 9.98 million sales, but it's the runner up spot between General Motors and Volkswagen that is starting to create a stir.

Based on our earlier report, GM's 9.71 million vehicles put it in second place ahead of VW's 9.5-million-vehicle effort. Now, The Detroit News is reporting that VW is claiming a tally of 9.73 million sales, including figures from MAN and Scania – heavy-duty truck divisions under the VW AG family. The article points out that Toyota's sales figure includes its Hino line of trucks, but these might still be considered light-duty vehicles while MAN and Scania build tractor trailers.

Volkswagen's labor chief says U.S. operations a 'disaster'

(Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) top labor representative has dubbed the carmaker's U.S. operations a "disaster" and called for more models and swift decisions to revive the German group's declining fortunes in the world's second-largest auto market.

While VW has risen to become the biggest automaker in China and Europe, the group has yet to fully understood how to succeed in the United States, Bernd Osterloh, VW's works council chief, told reporters in Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

"The U.S. are a case of disaster" for VW, said Osterloh, who also sits on the carmaker's supervisory board.

The German multi-brand group last month ousted U.S. divisional chief Jonathan Browning, who oversaw the much-lauded 2011 launch of the midsize Passat, sales of which declined 6.3 percent last year after a 2011/12 surge.

Osterloh echoed criticism from the company's new head of U.S. operations, Michael Horn, who this month said that VW headquarters had paid little heed to the dynamics of the U.S. market.

VW's situation in the United States, where the company has been grappling with losses for years, won't improve until 2016 and it needs more models there, including a pick-up truck, Osterloh said.

At the Detroit auto show in January VW announced plans to make a sport utility vehicle (SUV) for North America as part of a $7 billion investment in the region.

Osterloh lamented that a year after the "CrossBlue" SUV was unveiled, it's still unclear where the model will be built. The carmaker favors its U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, over a factory in Puebla, Mexico, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

VW's labor leader said that Chattanooga would make sense from an economic viewpoint if the company could offset the higher personnel costs compared with Puebla.

Separately, Osterloh said that the carmaker would be able to cope with changes to top management at any time. Five of the nine executives, including CEO Martin Winterkorn, are older than 60.

"I believe we can react quickly if we're in need of (personnel) changes," Osterloh said.

Speculation about a potential lack of a younger generation of leaders at VW flared up last September when the carmaker denied a report claiming that 76-year-old chairman Ferdinand Piech would soon step down for health reasons and be replaced by 66-year-old Winterkorn.

Osterloh said he is counting on both Piech and Winterkorn to serve through at least until 2018, the year VW has pledged to overtake Toyota (7203.T) and General Motors (GM.N) as the world's biggest carmaker by volume.

"I would be one of the first who would find out if one of those two wants to go," said Osterloh, a member of the board's influential steering committee.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman)

The Russian auto industry is not in a great place right now. A weakened currency, the rouble, is stinging automakers, and in the case of Volkswagen, has prompted a trimming of production.

VW lowered production projections at its Kaluga factory from 150,000 units per year to just 120,000. Kaluga, which builds the Tiguan crossover (shown above with Russia's Vladimir Putin) and Polo compact, as well as the Skoda Fabia and Octavia, kicked off its production reduction yesterday, with the start of a ten-day furlough.

The German manufacturer isn't exactly pulling the plug on its Russian ops – VW was quick to point out to Reuters that a new engine production facility and parts depot will go online in Russia next year – although VW's trimming of expectations does reflect larger concerns in the country, the most obvious of which were voiced by Opel.

"There is no doubt that the situation in Russia is a concern. The market has shrunk substantially over the past few months and the Ukraine crisis has added to the uncertainty," Opel spokesman Peter Christian Kuespert told Automobilwoche, according to Reuters.