CEO Herbert Diess remains in his post but Volkswagen, to find internal peace (or at least a truce), recalibrates the balance of top management by giving a fundamental role, development in China, to the current CEO of the brand, the 53-year-old Ralf Brandstätter and by making Diess focus on software development. The board of directors of the group will be reorganized “to make the company even more effective in facing the challenges of the years to come,” reads the German group’s statement. The decisions were made during an expected meeting of the Supervisory Board. The market has coldly welcomed the decisions, including those on the 159 billion investment plan, of which 89 in new technologies (in 5 years) and the electrification of eight new factories in Europe, with both stocks (common and preferred shares) moderately in negative territory.
«With the resolutions adopted today – argued the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch – we are strengthening the group’s board of directors. At the same time, all areas of strategic importance are strengthened with the main goal of having the right people in the right places. This gives the group’s board of directors even more power to successfully tackle the strategic tasks of the years to come ”.
Diess: I feel strengthened
“I feel empowered with my new responsibilities,” Diess said at a press conference, referring to the new assignment relating to the software division.
Syndicate satisfied with the agreement
“Now Volkswagen – commented the president of the works council and member of the supervisory board, Daniela Cavallo, who in recent weeks has been one of the harshest critics of the Diess management, above all for the lack of clarity on the future of the Wolfsburg headquarters and on the jobs for half of the 60,000 employees – will be able not only to talk about the future but to put it into action, guaranteeing employees, without whom there could be no development. And the Trinity project will certainly be based in Wolfsburg which will remain the heart of our group. As for the semiconductor crisis, difficult months await us but today we are less worried because we have a sustainable plan ». And Cavallo cut short on the controversies: «I’m not interested in disputes or reading about them. We have so many challenges ahead and we need to focus on those, ”he said, adding that“ it’s normal and it will be normal to have different opinions ”.
Thus the chairman of the board of directors, 63-year-old Diess, will take over the responsibility of the automotive software division, Cariad, taking over from Audi’s CEO, Markus Duesmann, at the beginning of 2022. Brandstätter will also join the board of management and will be responsible of the brand’s activities core of the group. Diess will also focus on strategy and will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors with responsibility for the Volume Brand Group. Pötsch denied that these moves were aimed at reducing the powers of the CEO, who was renewed this summer until 2025 and impeached in recent months.