A good three years after his departure from the top of VW Herbert Diess (66) is now actually retiring: his contract ends tomorrow, October 24th – this is his 67th birthday – and he will receive retirement benefits from October 25th, a VW spokesman confirmed at the request of the German Press Agency. This ends the long phase in which Diess continued to receive a board salary in the millions even after his dismissal.
Diess was most recently the group’s highest-paid manager: including pension provision and variable remuneration for several years, he received almost 11.2 million euros last year, according to the group’s annual report. He earned more than his successor Oliver Blume (57), who earned a good 10.3 million euros.
Last but not least, the reason is a salary waiver by Blume: The CEO, together with the other active board members, had already waived 5 percent of the basic salary in 2024 in order to participate in the savings program. This year and next year it should be 11 percent. Former board member Diess, however, was not cut.
Contract extension shortly before cancellation
Diess had to hand over the position of CEO to Blume in 2022, but remained on the Wolfsburg-based company’s payroll. Reason: His contract was extended again in 2021 – a year before he was replaced – and continued until his 67th birthday, which he celebrates this Friday.
Actually, as it was said when Diess was dismissed, the ex-boss should continue to work as a consultant for the group. Little of it was noticeable. Instead, Diess joined the supervisory board of chip manufacturer Infineon in 2023 and took over as chairman. He is involved in several start-ups – and is often in Spain, where he runs a small hotel, including cattle breeding and a pear plantation, as he told the video podcast “Jung & Naiv” at the end of last year.
Software problems and rough management style
The Munich native was in 2015 BMW came to VW. In 2018 he was promoted to CEO. After the diesel scandal was exposed, Diess courageously set the company on an electric course. With Tesla boss Elon Musk (54) he became friends. Diess, with his rough management style, regularly clashed with his own works council and fought power struggles with the powerful employee representatives in Wolfsburg.
The fact that he had to give up in the end is primarily attributed to the problems at the software company Cariad, which repeatedly caused delays in model launches. Many of Diess’ decisions were corrected after his departure, especially the software strategy, according to which Cariad should develop everything itself if possible. The design and naming of the electric cars have also been corrected.