Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess surprisingly left the Wolfsburg carmaker at the end of August. His successor will be the head of sports car subsidiary Porsche AG, Oliver Bloom, VW announced on Friday evening.

Bloom has to remain in its current state in parallel. He is currently working on an IPO for Porsche AG, which should be completed in the fall. At VW, 54-year-old Bloom will be actively supported by Chief Financial Officer Arno Enlitz, who will also be responsible for day-to-day business operations, according to a press release from the group.

Diess, a former BMW manager, has been in charge of VW since April 2018. The company announced that the supervisory board has reached an amicable settlement with the 63-year-old. The chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötz, thanked Diess. “During his time as CEO of the Volkswagen Brand and Group, he was instrumental in driving the company’s transformation.” Dios significantly accelerated VW’s conversion to e-mobility. However, there have been several problems recently, especially with the sluggish and increasingly expensive development of in-house software and IT systems.

Staff representatives welcome change of boss at Volkswagen

Bloom was long considered a possible successor to Dias. His name was mentioned several times behind the scenes when clashes escalated last year between the VW boss and the powerful working council over possible new austerity programmes. Even before that, there were violent differences with parts of the supervisory board about the strategy ahead and about potentially drastic job cuts at Europe’s biggest carmaker.

The surprise change of boss was met with approval from employee representatives. In addition to its role as a tech favorite, Volkswagen should do justice to its role as a social role model, explained Jörg Hoffmann, IG metal boss and vice president of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board. “The decisions made today make it possible to keep the momentum and use the leadership we’ve worked on.” Daniela Cavallo, head of the Works Council, explained that job security and profitability should remain the same corporate goals. “All colleagues have to be taken along. Today’s decisions contribute to that.”