Skip to main content

Diess Just In: Mueller Out as CEO of VW Group

The Volkswagen Group has made good on its promise to reshuffle its management structure, as Herbert Diess is now taking over from Matthias Mueller as CEO of the Volkswagen Group.

Although it’s not quite clear where Mueller will go from here and who will replace Diess at the Volkswagen brand, where he was (is?) CEO, specifics are expected to be released tomorrow.

Mueller took over as CEO of the Volkswagen in 2015, coming up from Porsche and steering the ship amid the dieselgate crisis.

“Not only did he safely navigate Volkswagen through that time,” said Hans Dieter Potsch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “Together with his team, he also fundamentally realigned the Group’s strategy, initiated cultural change and, with great personal commitment, made sure that the Volkswagen Group not just stayed on track but is now more robust than ever before. For that, he is due the thanks of the entire Company.”

Although he did his job in turning things around, according to Automotive News he’s leaving his role for failing to reform and streamline the Byzantine group.

Long a concern of investors, the Volkswagen Group is made up of numerous subbrands that make vastly different products (everything from motorcycles to 18-wheelers). Following Dieselgate, VW was intent on making itself a leader in clean technologies across its many brands but hasn’t succeeded in accomplishing that yet.

As a result, Mueller agreed to step down, paving the way for Diess to take over.

According to Automotive News Diess garnered favor with the board for his handling of VW labor disputes. In an effort to cut costs, the BMW import, negotiated 30,000 layoffs for the VW brand despite stern opposition from the works council. As a result, the first quarter of 2018 has been the brand’s most profitable ever.

“In realigning the Volkswagen brand, [Diess] has demonstrated to impressive effect the speed and rigor with which he can implement radical transformation processes,” said Potsch in a statement. “This accomplishment makes him predestined to fully implement our Strategy 2025 in the decisive years that are now to follow.”

Along with his new position Diess will also be responsible for Group Development and Research. Audi’s head, meanwhile, will take Group Sales, and Porsche’s Oliver Blume will be in charge of Group Production.

The Volkswagen Group has also announced that it will divide its brands into three groups: Volume, Premium, and Super Premium (as well as the already established Truck and Bus group).

Just how these changes will express themselves will be seen in the coming days but for now, Diess sees his primary goal as moving forward with green technologies.

My most important task will now be to join with our management team and our Group workforce in consistently pursuing and pushing forward our evolution into a profitable, world-leading provider of sustainable mobility,” says Diess. “In a phase of profound upheaval in the automotive industry, it is vital for Volkswagen to pick up speed and make an unmistakable mark in e-mobility, the digitalization of the automobile and transportation as well as new mobility services.”

The post Diess Just In: Mueller Out as CEO of VW Group appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2IPoF54
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...