Wow, what a hell of a week it’s been in the automotive world. If I was working for Volkswagen Group, I’d be brushing up my resume toot-suite and preparing for the worst, but things look a bit darker than even I’m making it. The EPA is threatening more oversight (oh, goodie…), several governments are investigating, and it’s only been a week. You know that phrase about “it” rolling downhill? Yeah…better prepare for the avalanche. That being said, other things did occur this week worth noting, and plenty more that weren’t worth a glance. We gathered up some bits and pieces and slapped them together for our week-in-review of the less important stuff we call Scrapple. It’s not all VW news, we promise!

1. The fallout report from Volkswagen’s diesel-powered meltdown:

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned shortly after giving a speech that was effectively, “We screwed up badly” in German, and that isn’t even the beginning of the trouble. Volkswagen Group is undergoing a massive reconstruction of the management group. Matthias Mueller is taking over Winterkorn’s position, where he will have the unenviable job of getting the company past Dieselgate. More heads are rumored to roll out of the door as things progress.

2. Et tu, BMW?

The same group that flagged Volkswagen in the first place also called out BMW, specifically the BMW X3 xDrive20d, for exceeding emissions limits. Autobild, a German magazine, had the International Council on Clean Transportation test the BMW cute-ute and found that it was pushing 11.88 times the Euro 6 limit for NOx emissions. BMW fired back, denying that the company has any “defeat device” or software similar to what Volkswagen has admitted using. BMW stocks dropped 10% directly due to the report.

3. Holy freaking lawsuits, Batman!

Now, for the fun part: owners, used car lots, environmentalists, dealerships…seemingly everybody and their mother is working on a lawsuit with Volkswagen over Dieselgate. How bad is this, really? There are plaintiffs from all fifty states in America, including four class-action lawsuits alone from noted automotive lawsuit-ready firm Hagens Berman (Toyota “unintended acceleration” suits, Hyundai/Kia fuel economy suits). And that’s just what’s happening in America. Volkswagen have lawyered up, hiring Kirkland & Ellis LLP. You might recognize that name from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010…they were British Petroleum’s legal team.

4. Speaking of Batman…

After a four-year battle between DC Comics/Warner Bros. and Mark Towle, the owner of Gotham Garage, a manufacturer that specialized in creating replicas of the 1966 and 1989 Batmobiles. Towle claimed that the Batmobile was simply modifications to a standard car and not subject to copyright, disregarding the long-standing copyright that DC Comics and Warner Bros. have had. Judge Sandra Ikuta of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with DC/WB, who are now seeking a permanent injunction to prevent future production, complete destruction of every Batmobile in Gotham Garage’s ownership, and $750,000 in damages per car. Holy legal bitch-slap, Batman.

5. Fast And The Furious without a director?

Rumors are flying around that Universal Studios is currently head-hunting for a director to take on the eighth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise after Justin Lin (the man behind #3-6) and Jeremy Wan (1, 2, 7) both shot down the option, which included what an insider dubbed “a life-altering amount of money”. Lin chose to direct the next Star Trek movie, and Wan decided to do a sequel to The Conjuring after believing that the F&F took a toll on his health. Then there is the issue of Vin Diesel, who sources claim is a pain in the ass to work with and is rumored to be looking at a potential directing bid (he directed Los Bandoleros, a short film meant to bring Dom Toretto back into the storyline for F&F4). As far as we’re concerned, the series could be ended with part 7 and we’d be fine with that, but chances are good that Universal isn’t just going to leave that cash cow alone.