In the car industry, there is no stone unturned; e-mobility and digitization are turning the entire industry around. The change does not stop even at the executive level of VW.
Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg
Thursday, 27.12.2018
13:36 clock
The change in Volkswagen meanwhile has also captured large parts of the management team. In 2018, around 100 management positions were filled, the company said. Six board members were appointed in 2018, including the chairman Herbert Diess, Most recently, the new Audi boss Bram Schot took over the responsibility for the group sales. The 57-year-old thus succeeded the former Audi boss Rupert Stadler who retired from office in October. Schot has been provisionally at the head of the VW subsidiary since the arrest of Stadler in June.
Volkswagen had surprisingly rebuilt its own management team in mid-April. The previously responsible only for the core brand VW Diess solved his predecessor Matthias Müller from. This repeatedly called for managers to increase the pace and speed of implementation. The group restructuring initiated by him combines the individual VW brands into new groups to accelerate decision-making processes. Volkswagen also wants its truck division called Traton with the two brands MAN and Scania prepare for an IPO.
However, many management positions were also filled below the Group Executive Board. “The renewal process of the Volkswagen management team got new thrust in 2018,” commented Diess, who continues to lead the core brand VW Passenger Cars. In day-to-day business, Brand Procurement Officer Ralf Brandstätter assists him as Chief Operating Officer (COO). The aim is to bring together new competences and impulses from the outside with the know-how of Volkswagen.
Group Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian – himself only in this position since April – emphasized: “Volkswagen is facing enormous technological and entrepreneurial changes.” For this, “first-class management teams” are necessary. And: “In the coming years, we therefore need the maximum flexibility and motivation of the entire team.”
The auto industry is currently undergoing a major shift towards digitization and E-mobility, Volkswagen had recently announced plans to build electric cars not only in Zwickau but also at the Emden and Hanover locations. The electrification is not only the most important decision with a view to the future, but also has its own board with Thomas Ulbrich at the parent brand VW Passenger.