Piech and Porsche Families Unite Behind Volkswagen

In a recent interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Hans Michel Piech and Wolfgang Porsche pledged to back senior Volkswagen management as the manufacturer attempts to make the all important shift from diesel to electric motors.

The two families have clashed in the past, especially when former chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, Ferdinand Piech, was his family’s representative. He resigned from that position last year, leaving his brother Hans Michel to take over.

Hans Michel Piech and Wolfgang Porsche seem to be getting along better now, as together they vowed to support VW chairman Hans Dieter Poetch and CEO Matthias Muller. They also told Der Spiegel that they would stay out of daily operational affairs.

“We are different and we see our task as representatives of the families different,” says Piech, addressing the former tensions between the families. He and Porsche, though, then reiterated their ability to find a consensus.

This comes despite the fact that the number of Porsche family members with voting power rising to 34.

“Not all 34 will become supervisory board members, or have a say in discussions, and not all of them want to,” says Porsche. The move, he explains, is designed to get the next generation of family members interested in the business.

[source: Automotive News]

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