Herbert Diess
The new VW boss swears his employees on the corporate restructuring.
After VW–Works council chief Bernd Osterloh and ex-chief Matthias Müller also has the new one VWCEO Herbert diess on Friday with a letter addressed to the employees of the Volkswagen Group. In the letter, which is available to the Handelsblatt, Diess commits the workforce to the corporate restructuring.
“We have to accelerate and set clear accents, especially in electric mobility (…),” writes Diess. With the board restructuring, which promoted him to the chief post, were the “conditions for a lean company” created.
The new corporate structure makes it possible to make decisions faster and implement them, Diess continues. And he promised to involve the employees more in the restructuring of the company: “We will keep you up to date and significantly expand internal communication.”
Letters to staff: VW works council chief Osterloh praises Diess – Müller writes to employees
Diess also thanked his predecessor miller – and pronounced him “respect for his great achievement”. That VW is doing well economically is a merit of Müller. Now it was necessary to force the course that had been taken. After all, VW has not left the past behind, as Diess admits: “The diesel crisis is and will remain with Volkswagen for a long time.”
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This promised to advance the processing of the diesel scandal. Only then could similar mistakes be avoided in the future.
On Thursday, the VW Supervisory Board had decided that former VW brand manager Diess Müller as CEO should succeed with immediate effect.
Already on Monday VW had – startled by research of the Handelsblatt – announced in a mandatory announcement for the stock exchange a board restructuring,
Change at VW: “Müller leaves the corporation in good shape”
In addition to Müller also divide personnel director Karlheinz Blessing and Purchasing Director Javier García Sanz from the executive committee. Blessing will be replaced by the former Secretary General of the Group Works Council, Gunnar Kilian.
The tasks of Sanz takes over VW Procurement Board Ralf Brandstätter acting. In addition, Porsche CEO Blume moves up to the Group Board.
This staff letter in the wording
Dear Colleagues,
I was only a few months part of VolkswagenFamily, when the outbreak of the diesel crisis hit this proud and successful corporation – a blow of which it was not clear how and if Volkswagen would recover from it.
The cohesion in the crisis, the effort to overcome it, and the determination with which the company tackles difficult challenges: all this has repeatedly reassured me that Volkswagen is a strong company with a great team. For me it is the professional home that I have always wanted.
Today, a good two and a half years later, it is clear that we emerged stronger from this crisis. Nobody would have expected us to do so – maybe not even ourselves at the beginning. The Volkswagen Group is more robust than ever and has given itself a new strategic orientation in a difficult time with “TOGETHER – Strategy 2025”. This is not least the merit of Matthias Müllerto whom I would like to personally express my gratitude and respect for his great achievement.
The momentum that has unfolded in our company with our Strategy 2025 now needs to be significantly increased in the next phase of our realignment – because the pace of change in our industry is also continuing to increase.
My most important task in this new responsibility will be to work together with our brands, and with you – our employees – to consistently pursue and accelerate the path to becoming a profitable, globally leading provider of sustainable mobility. We need to accelerate and set a clear course, especially in electromobility, digitization and new mobility services. And that is exactly what we will do.
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The further development of our management and group structure decided on by the Supervisory Board yesterday created the preconditions for a lean group that leads strong brands. Working in new brand groups or units will ensure that we become more powerful and efficient and get even closer to our customers. The CEOs responsible for the brand groups also assume Group management responsibilities. With this new, more compact structure, we also create the conditions to become faster in our decisions and in their implementation. We streamline the group management. And we use synergies more consistently than before.
We will work intensively on the detailed design in the coming weeks. And we will keep you up to date and significantly expand internal communication. That’s important to me. Because in the end it depends on you too: our employees. Do not let up in your efforts! Get involved at your workplace! That’s because you make a decisive contribution towards defining mobility in the future as well as inspiring our customers. At the same time, we are laying the foundation for this group to continue to live up to its responsibility to society and the environment, but also to our employees and our shareholders.
In order to assert ourselves in the future world, we must bravely look ahead. This will to look ahead and leave the past behind is clearly noticeable here. But: It is an illusion to believe that we can free ourselves completely and definitively from the past. The diesel crisis is and will remain with Volkswagen for a long time to come. Only if we seriously and deeply advance the work-up can we learn from it to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Theme: Volkswagen
The cultural change towards an open, entrepreneurial, agile organization must and will therefore continue. And we will continue to do everything necessary to anchor integrity and compliance even more deeply throughout the Group. That must be just as much a part of Volkswagen as our unique cohesion, our outstanding technological competence and our unconditional will to succeed.
I am convinced that our company has its best days ahead, based on its strategy, its financial strength and the support of all of you. It is an honor for me to help shape the future of the Volkswagen Group in my new role from now on. I look forward to the joint work that lies ahead. And I ask for your support along the way. Heard, Herbert Diess