The CEO of the automobile giant Volkswagen, Herbert Diess, has been dismissed this Friday and will leave the management of the group in September. He will be succeeded by current Porsche Chairman of the Board Oliver Blume.
This unexpected exit has been decided after a meeting of the Volkswagen supervisory board called by urgency. According to a company press release, it has been "by mutual agreement."
His abrupt departure marks the culmination of frequent clashes with the German manufacturer's powerful unions and other key players over the brand's overhaul of its dieselgate strategy, transition to electric, and cost cuts. The surprise may cause concern among investors.
Diess, 63, was hired from BMW in 2015, shortly before Volkswagen admitted to modifying millions of diesel vehicles to fraudulently pass emissions tests. He took the reins in 2018.
Promoter of the transformation plan of the group to the electric one, the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, thanked Diess for the work carried out at the head of the group and the brand in advancing in the transformation of the company. "He not only steered the company through extremely rough waters, but also implemented a fundamentally new strategy," he said.
Blume, who will continue in his role as head of the Porsche brand, will be assisted by current Volkswagen CFO Arno Antlitz, who will take over as chief operating officer. The new leader of the Volkswagen group joined the company in 1994 and since then has held different positions of responsibility in the Audi, Seat, Volkswagen and Porsche brands, a brand of which he has been president since 2015.
