Herbert Diess remains at the helm of Volkswagen

It is the end of a major area of ​​turbulence for the Volkswagen group, the world’s largest automobile manufacturer. “The strategy, in particular the shift towards electric mobility and the connected car, has the full support of the supervisory board,” said this body in a press release, referring to a “unanimous” decision. “The management board will implement the strategy in the coming years with, at its head, Herbert Diess”, adds the text, thus rejecting the hypothesis of a resignation of the boss faced with resistance from the powerful representatives of the employees. At issue: the allocation of several key positions within the management board, now filled.

Poker shot

Arno Antlitz, CFO of the Audi subsidiary, will take on this role at group level after Frank Witter’s departure scheduled for late June 2021. From January 2021, Thomas Schmall, at the head of the Volkswagen Components subsidiary, will become technical director and Murat Aksel will be responsible for the group’s purchases in addition to those of the VW brand that he currently manages. During the showdown between the chairman of the management board and the head of the works council Bernd Osterloh, Mr. Diess had, according to the press, tried a game of poker and asked for the early extension of his contract, which runs until 2023. If he has not obtained this “vote of confidence”, the boss is now the subject of an “absolute agreement between the supervisory board, management board and employee representatives” on his objectives, says Mr. Osterloh, cited in the press release.

Break the sclerotic structures

Tensions go back several months between the unions and Herbert Diess, 62, arrived in April 2018 with the ambition to “break the old and sclerotic structures” of the group to definitively turn the page on dieselgate and launch Volkswagen into the era of electric. Mr Diess lost direct management of the eponymous VW brand in June after an unusually violent attack by unions, which in an open letter blasted “massive mismanagement” in two major model launches.

Catching up with Tesla

Volkswagen is investing more than 35 billion euros in electricity and intends to offer 70 electric models by 2030 to sell 26 million units in ten years. “In the next few years, we will continue to invest ‘in the car of the future’ and at the same time significantly lower fixed and material costs across all brands and in all regions,” said Mr. Diess, who publicly posted the goal of catching up with American competitor Tesla. In its press release Monday, the supervisory board also states its “unanimity” to retain Lamborghini and Ducati as “parts of the Volkswagen group”, while media and analysts regularly evoke options to sell or IPO for these two iconic brands.