Volkswagen said profit at its troubled core division soared in the first three months of the year, a sign that long-overdue cost cuts are having an impact as the carmaker seeks to move beyond its diesel emissions crisis.

We all know the Golf GTi to be the daddy of all the hot hatches, but the fact of the matter is that the iconic Volkswagen is now — gasp — 40 years old, so technically it could now be described as the granddaddy of the genre.

Volkswagen will be launching a new range of avant-garde electric vehicles in the near future — and not a minute too soon for the German giant which is still struggling as a result of its diesel emissions scandal.

You do learn something new every day. During my tenure with the latest version of the wonderful VW Up!, I was waffling on about how Volkswagen came up with such a silly name for their micromini.

Volkswagen has given us a glimpse of some of the new technologies involved in their R&D process in the development of new cars.

Volkswagen has pleaded guilty to three felony counts as part of a $4.3bn (€4bn) plea agreement reached with the US Justice Department in January over the carmaker’s massive diesel emissions scandal.

Volkswagen will launch an extended-wheelbase version of the Tiguan called the Allspace later this year.

European car sales rose to a nine-year high in 2016, with French company Renault taking advantage of recovering demand and Volkswagen’s tarnished reputation to leap to second place from third in th e region.

The US Department of Justice has announced charges against six executives at Volkswagen.

VW’s attempted recovery from the ‘dieselgate’ scandal continues and this month it is unveiling a new model in its I.D. electric line.

The European New Car Assessment Programme Euro NCAP has published the best models of the year for 2016.

We may have thought that the days of executive contenders from Volkswagen were long since gone — gone since the days of the ill-received and poor selling Phaeton.

A German court said it has added staff and storage space to handle a flood of 1,400 investor lawsuits against Volkswagen seeking damages worth €8.2bn (£7bn).

Volkswagen is another company which has announced an incentive offer, saying they will offer 0% PCP finance from Volkswagen Bank for a limited period on a select number of their 162 model range.

Volkswagen’s second-generation Tiguan model arrives in Irish showrooms in July of this year and order books are now opening across the company’s dealer network.

European Union regulators are seeking greater authority over the approval of car models in response to Volkswagen’s emissions-test deception, risking a clash with EU governments.

Further ramifications about the VW scandal were underlined this week when Ford said it believes it has the capability to massively ramp up petrol engine fitment in Europe if there is a big backlash against diesel in the wake of the VW dieselgate affair and potentially rising anti-diesel sentiment among consumers and regulators.

Pat Coholan shows the Irish Examiner around his 1979 VW Golf 1.5 Diesel GL

More bad news at VW, where 800,000 new cars are now deemed worth a recall because of failing to hit CO2 limits.

Unlike the peculiar things surrounding the sale of the Nama property assets in Northern Ireland, where it appears that public servants north and south of the border are trying to limit the scope of the inquiries, it’s unlikely there will be any such relief for the folk from the Volkswagen Group.

It's understood that as many as 80,000 Irish cars could be affected by the diesel emissions scandal.

The software at the centre of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal in the US was built into its cars in Europe as well, though it is not yet clear if it helped cheat tests as it did in the US, Germany said

Volkswagen has said that 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide were fitted with software at the centre of the US emissions scandal.

Volkswagen will celebrate the 40th birthday of their iconic Golf GTi with a y special edition of the car — the Golf GTi Clubsport. VW has a tradition of GTI anniversary models: special editions also marked the 20th, 25th, 30th, and 35th birthdays of the car.