Published 12/26/2018 12:14:42 CET
Great changes in the domes of the automotive: García Sanz leaves Volkswgen; the ‘visionary’ Musk is replaced in the presidency of Tesla and Zetsche announces his withdrawal from Daimler
MADRID, 26 Dec. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The arrests of managers Rupert Stadler and Carlos Ghosn have shaken the automotive sector in 2018, a year in which the German courts have punished Audi and the Volkswagen group with fines of 800 and 1,000 million euros, respectively, for the case of software that altered emissions in some diesel vehicles.
Stadler, in May 2017, renewed his contract as president of Audi for another five years, however, in June of this year, the German prosecutor’s office included the manager among the suspects of fraud and false advertising for the ‘diesel’.
The signature of the four rings admitted a year earlier that its 3.0-liter V6 engines were equipped with a device that was considered illegal in the United States (US) and that allowed cars to evade emission limits. In this context, Stadler, together with other executives, jumped into the fray for their supposed consent to market vehicles with this device in the European market.
In June 2018, Stadler was arrested when he was in his home in Ingolstadt (Germany), for which he was temporarily suspended from his corporate responsibilities. After four and a half months in pretrial detention, he was released and the vigilance councils of the Volkswagen Group and Audi gave their consent to conclude an agreement with the manager for termination within the company.
In this way, he will not work again for the consortium based in Wolfsburg (Germany) and Bram Schot replaces him now as president of the firm. In addition, Audi, also in the context of the ‘dieselgate’, agreed to pay a fine of 800 million euros by the Prosecutor’s Office in Munich.
The penalty includes the payment of a maximum fine of five million euros, as provided in the country’s legislation, as well as the return of economic benefits by the company of 795 million euros. For its part, the Volkswagen group also accepted the payment of a fine of 1,000 million euros by the Prosecutor’s Office of Braunschweig for the same case.
GHOSN, ALSO FELL
Another surprise in the automotive sector in 2018 came from Japan. The ‘guru’ Carlos Ghosn, who revived Nissan when the company was going through its worst moment and one of the most important figures in the automotive sector worldwide, was arrested in Japan on November 19 for an alleged violation of the law about the country’s financial instruments.
The Office of the Tokyo Prosecutor proceeded to arrest the head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance for breach of the tax legislation of the Asian country in relation to their personal income. The news reacted to the same president of the French Government, Emmanuel Macron, to preserve the financial stability in Renault (in which the French Executive owns 15% of the capital).
Nissan and Mitsubishi immediately dismissed Ghosn as president of both companies, but Renault still keeps him in ‘stand by’ (as president and CEO) after finding no irregularities in a preliminary audit and has appointed Thierry Bolloré as a substitute for interim
Ghosn was formally accused in Japan of having declared a lower income than he actually perceived as the maximum responsible for Nissan. Specifically, it published a compensation of less than half of the 88 million dollars (77 million euros), which it received between 2010 and 2015.
In addition, when the Lebanese-born manager seemed to have already hit bottom, the Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office surprised with a new accusation against him. Supposedly, he transferred personal operations to the company, generating an impact worth 16.6 million dollars (14.5 million euros).
According to the Japanese authorities, also caused “damage” to the Japanese manufacturer by having him deposit a total of 14.7 million dollars (12.8 million euros) between June 2009 and March 2012 in a bank account
DIRECTOR DANCING
In this course there has also been a constant oscillation in the domes of the main automobile firms around the world. The Spanish Francisco Javier García Sanz was until April of this year one of the national directors with a position of greater responsibility in a large international corporation.
After 17 years as World Vice President of Purchasing of the Volkswagen Group, he left the board of directors and the company at his own request, as part of the reorganization of the structure of the governing body that the company has carried out and which also entailed the exit of the CEO, Mätthias Müller.
The Spaniard was also chairman of the board of directors of Seat, Volkswagen Navarra and Volkswagen Group España Distribución and, between 2008 and 2012, he was president of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac).
For his part, Herbert Diess replaced Mätthias Müller as head of the Volkswagen group. Before starting his career in Wolfsburg in 2015, he held the position of Technical Director of Planning and Maintenance of the Bosch plant in the Cantabrian town of Treto, among others.
FAREWELL IN DAIMLER
Dieter Zetsche also announced at the end of September that he will step down as chairman of the Daimler board of directors after more than thirteen years in office and that he will be succeeded by Swede Ola Käellenius.
The intention of the German automobile consortium is that Zetsche resign from his position during the annual shareholders’ meeting in 2019, and that he will become a member of the supervisory board for two years, to then succeed the current president of this body, Manfred Bischoff, during the board of 2021.
Zetsche has been a member of the board of directors of Daimler since December 1998 and was appointed chairman of this body in January 2006. In addition, he has been the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars since 2005.
CHANGES IN TESLA
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) opened an investigation to Elon Musk for fraud after announcing on Twitter a privatization of the company that never occurred and the manager was forced to leave the presidency of the board of directors of the company and pay a fine of 40 million dollars (35 million euros) in exchange for the withdrawal of the charges presented.
Thus, Tesla and Musk each pay 20 million dollars (17.5 million euros) to resolve the case and Musk will resign as president of the company, although it will remain its executive director.
After several days of confusion in Palo Alto (USA), Robyn Denholm was appointed chairman of the board of directors of Tesla to replace the company’s founder.
SAD NEWS
On July 25, the motor world mourned the loss of one of its main players during the last decades. The former CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Ferrari Sergio Marchionne died after several days admitted to a hospital in Zurich (Switzerland) for complications resulting from surgery.
The ‘jersey man’, who was scheduled to leave the Italian-American car group by 2019, is credited with having rescued Fiat and also Chrylser from bankruptcy since taking the wheel of the Italian automaker fourteen years ago.
The death of Marchionne shook Fiat Chrysler in full development of its strategic plan, presented by himself in June and through which he plans to invest 9,000 million euros in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next five years, in order to eliminate his production all diesel engines before the year 2021.