Everything about Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, is big. Really big. Its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, is a mini city with vast production halls, topped with Lowry-style smokestacks. It even has its own railway station. But right now, the biggest thing of all about VW is the trouble it is in.
In July, Herbert Diess — chief executive of the overall group that comprises the Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati brands — was fired and replaced with Oliver Blume, who used to run Porsche.
Diess got his marching orders mainly because VW, the engine of the group that accounts for more than half its sales, has stumbled on the road to becoming a big player in the $1 trillion electric vehicle