The National Carriage Museum in Lisbon is one of the most important sights in the city. Dozens of historic horse-drawn carriages belonging to the Portuguese nobility and royal family line the halls, which are not only a tourist magnet, but also serve as a trendy event location. On Thursday, at exactly 9.10 a.m., Oliver Blume will make his first big appearance there as the new boss of Volkswagen, at the Global Top Management Conference, or GTMC for short, for which Europe’s largest car company regularly chooses special venues. At least that’s what the program for this year’s conference envisages.
It is no coincidence that Blume’s appointment as the new CEO coincides with the long-planned management conference. Some in the group are rumored that the change in management at the top of VW, which was surprisingly and quickly decided five weeks ago, was also scheduled exactly as it came about because of the GTMC. In the meantime, it is said, October 1st was favored as the date when Blume started his new post. But what would that look like if the controversial and long-dead predecessor Herbert Diess read the riot act to the 500 most important executives in Lisbon shortly before the end of his term of office?