Oliver Blume
According to insider information, VW boss wants to sell almost the entire management of Cariad.
(Photo: Reuters)
According to an insider, Volkswagen is firing almost the entire board of the software subsidiary Cariad, which is struggling with problems. The Cariad supervisory board will decide this next week after the VW general meeting, a person with knowledge of the deliberations told the Reuters news agency on Saturday. The insider added that only the future of HR Director Rainer Zugeh was still uncertain.
A Volkswagen spokesman explained: “We are currently analyzing the situation of Cariad and the projects very closely”. In this context, decisions have already been made. For example, software architectures were ordered chronologically. The “Business Insider” portal was the first to report on the planned dismissal of the board of directors.
“Possible decisions on personnel changes were not made,” said the spokesman. “We have always emphasized that we want to stick with Cariad.” For Volkswagen, the expansion of software competence remains an important part of the group strategy.
According to the insider, the Cariad board of directors will meet on Thursday. Volkswagen has invited its shareholders to the Annual General Meeting in Berlin on Wednesday. The topic should already come up at the VW supervisory board meeting on Tuesday.
Delays in software development led to the dismissal of CEO Herbert Diess last year. He was replaced at the beginning of September by Porsche boss Oliver Blume, who has since managed the group and the listed sports car manufacturer in one person. Blume straightened out the software startups and thus ensured that calm returned to the group.
Problems at software subsidiary Cariad
The problems at Cariad had led to delays in important vehicle projects such as the Porsche e-Macan and the Audi Q6 e-tron. The so-called standard software 2.0 initiated by Diess, with which the new flagship “Trinity” was originally planned to enable autonomous driving according to Level 4 from 2026, has been postponed by two years.
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