Things at Volkswagen have been rough of late thanks to the whole Dieselgate scandal, and with Audi joining the news reports along with Porsche, it put the automotive group in a little bit of financial trouble. So much so that huge layoffs are expected, a decision chosen over selling off some of the brands in the group. Reuters now reports that the top brass from various brands within the giant automotive group are at loggerheads about which side of the company will be taking the reigns in the electric car race.

While the Volkswagen Group outright denies that the kind of internal rivalry that it encouraged at the racetrack is getting pretty serious in the boardroom, senior executives have told Reuters that in-house conflict, particularly between the group's premium brands, is intensifying trying to figure out which factories will be developing the next generation of cars. This amidst the cost cutting that needs to take place to pay for its emissions cheating crimes. A few unnamed executives have said that conflict between group brands is not new and that healthy internal competition can push them to greater technical and commercial achievements. A bit of a contradiction to the outright denial.

The battle is for resources, Porsche and Audi are LeMans winners and they want to forge ahead in the industry, but Volkswagen wants to hold the name high too with the group's electric car technologies. The internal race is for a brand to become the engineering hub for electric vehicles, a field that includes research and development of battery cells, battery packs and electric motors, in the hope of preserving local jobs. The Volkswagen brand will spend 2.5 billion Euros to develop electric cars, the company has said. The true details will surely come out in the coming months, until then it's anyone's guess as to which brand will get the lion's share of the proposed budget and the accolades that follow.