Oliver Blume
At the IAA, the head of Volkswagen AG put the design of the brand in the foreground.
(Photo: dpa)
Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume wants to keep the Wolfsburg car group with its various brands together more closely with a more uniform appearance. “From now on, the design will have an overall entrepreneurial meaning: from the corporate identity, through the products to the digital offers,” said the group on the eve of the IAA Mobility trade fair in Munich. At the same time, the individual brands should use their design freedom to sharpen their profile.
“The design of our models is one of the most important factors that determine the success of our brands,” said Blume in front of several hundred journalists. Every brand needs its “own strong personality”. So that the centrifugal forces in the large corporation do not get the upper hand and the appearance does not drift apart, the CEOs of the brands should be given more influence.
To this end, the design departments are organizationally moving closer to the respective brand bosses. The direct exchange is intended to ensure that uniform design principles are adhered to – from the corporate identity to the products and the digital offerings of each brand.
Blume, who in addition to the group also heads the sports car manufacturer Porsche, has given the brands more responsibility since taking office a year ago in order to increase the profitability of Volkswagen. They were each set their own return targets for this. The group should focus on corporate strategy, investment planning, plant occupancy and sales strategy.
Up until now, the Supervisory Board has regularly passed resolutions on plant occupancy and investments in the coming years in the autumn during its so-called planning session. According to CFO Arno Antlitz, who is also responsible for the operational business, the top management level should retain its role and not be converted into an umbrella company under which the individual brands are hung.
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