Volkswagen Boss: Can Diess Live? , tagesschau.de

In VW boss Herbert Diess’s tussle over the future, a solution is on the horizon. As reported by several media outlets, the Austrians should continue to run the group, but surrender powers.

After weeks of speculation about Herbert Diess remaining at the helm of Volkswagen, there are growing signs that the 63-year-old will be allowed to continue running the group. According to information from “Handelsblatt” and Reuters news agency citing insiders, the controversial CEO should keep his position at the top of Europe’s largest car company; However, its power is limited.

“It goes in the direction that the dispute is resolved and Dias remains CEO,” a person familiar with the deliberations told Reuters. The solution found in lengthy negotiations provides VW brand boss Ralph Brandstetter to rise to the group’s executive board. It should focus on strategic issues of corporate management.

Brandstetter and DOS join the board

A second person said: “The pendulum is clearly tilting so that it stays in place.” With the rise of Brandstetter, Diess was losing influence over the operational business, the group said in circles. “Handelsblatt” reports that in addition to Brandstetter, Manfred Doss will also be promoted to the Volkswagen Board of Management. The Chief Counsel should take over the Integrity and Law department from the outgoing Hiltrude Werner. Doss, 63, is considered a close confidant of the Porsche/Pitch family of entrepreneurs. You trust him to make a positive impact on Dias.

It should be “dyed in” to prevent the group from being again intimidated by disorganized statements – according to the motto: “Trust is good, control is better”. Neither Volkswagen nor the Porsche SE, on which the Porsche and Piech families hold the majority of voting rights at the Wolfsburg-based carmaker, commented. The Executive Council also declined to comment.

Board meeting on Thursday

The chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötz, previously mediated countless negotiations between the fronts. Controversy broke out in late September when business games by Diess became known for the potential reduction of 30,000 jobs at the main plant in Wolfsburg. The Working Council saw this as a massive breach of trust. The position of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20 percent stake in Volkswagen, was also stunned. Its prime minister, Stephen Weil, who is also a member of the VW supervisory board, called the CEO’s behavior “stylized”.

It was only in July that the owners extended Dias’s contract for the third time and reaffirmed their course of accelerating the transformation into a technology provider based on the American electric car maker Tesla.

From corporate circles, it was also said that Potsch had pressed for an agreement in the personnel dias before the crucial meeting of the supervisory board this Thursday. Then the supervisory body should approve the investment plan for the next five years.