VW Truck Division: Throws Down Grundler

The press release sent out by Volkswagen Group at 7:46 p.m. Wednesday comes abruptly, harshly – but it appears to be coherent in a certain way: “The Treyton SE Supervisory Board has today decided on two changes to the Management Board. Tratton In”, is what it is called. So overall boss Mathias Grundler and CFO Christian Schulz will leave before the contract expires this Thursday.[कहाजाताहै।इसलिएकुलमिलाकरबॉसमैथियासग्रंडलरऔरसीएफओक्रिश्चियनशुल्जइसगुरुवारकोअनुबंधसमाप्तहोनेसेपहलेनिकलजाएंगे।

Trautan is the holding company in which Volkswagen heavy trucks are bundled. On one side is Munich truck maker Mann, which is currently busy with plant closures and job cuts. On the other hand, there is Swedish truck maker Scania, which is it’s shining premium brand. And recently there was also the starving American manufacturer Navistar. Three separate companies and cultures, the holding company with the art name above it and, finally, the main owner Volkswagen from Wolfsburg. It’s not easy to organize all this, especially in times of turmoil: trucks also have to switch their drives from diesel to electric and hydrogen, as is the case with cars. Digitization is making its way there too, and so is the shortage of computer chips. According to reports, the 56-year-old Grundler had everything under control and it looked like fun. Incidentally, he had come only a year earlier – a minor punch line – as his predecessor Andreas Rensler had thrown out at the time, probably out of frustration at too much influence from Wolfsburg.

But then this spring the circumstances and mood at Grundler changed as well. On 1 May, he was given an aide from the Board of Management: Bernd Osterloh. Not only did Grundler not ask for it – well reinforcement. No, as you can hear, he was presented with a stellar achievement by the Tratton Board of Directors. Osterloh, you should know, was the head of the Volkswagen Works Council for more than a decade, he was known as the “King of Wolfsburg” – and at the end of his career he was given this well-endowed position at Tratten. was tampered with. The powerful and confident ex-works council is now the head of human resources, which was not really necessary in a holding company.

Shortly after Osterloh took office, Grundler explained in an interview with SZ how close the collaboration was, or not: “I think,” Grundler said of his new board colleague, for the next 100 days. Think about your strategy. These are words that convey the greatest possible distance – and in which one can read how disapproved Grundler felt by the supervisory board around Hans Dieter Pötz. He clarified whose well-being is most important at Volkswagen. In this regard, it is more likely that Grundler has had enough – even if it is not proven.

Eventually, they all made the farewell very friendly: Potsch “explicitly” thanked Grundler in the farewell message. They, too, are given a few lines of quote and “best wishes” to the whole group. His successor will be Scania boss Christian Levin, who has to lead both companies in personal union – which should not please the people at MAN. Troughton manager Annette Danielski became CFO.