In two days, Oliver Blume will take over the management of Volkswagen. That’s quite a task. And it is of a special dimension because the circumstances could hardly be worse. War in Ukraine, fearful views of China, escalating inflation, concerns about a recession in Europe, unrelenting energy and commodity prices, unstable supply chains, a lack of chips, strangling regulations – and a great deal of uncertainty in our own ranks. During the years of his predecessor Herbert Diess, who has now been dismissed, the group committed itself to electromobility in a feat of strength, but forgot other things. Building good Volkswagens, for example.
Holger Apple
Editor in business, responsible for “Technology and Motor”.
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Volkswagen, that’s 670,000 employees, more than 100 factories around the world, 10 vehicle brands, 250 billion euros in sales, 9 to 10 million new cars a year. It’s a never-ending competition with Japanese giant Toyota to build more cars. But that’s not the point now.