After a marathon meeting, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG announced, as had been reported, that Matthias Müller would take over as chief executive, replacing Martin Winterkorn, who resigned Wednesday after acknowledging that as many as 11 million diesel-powered cars were equipped with software that U.S. officials say was designed to dupe regulators into believing the cars pollute less than they really do.
Volkswagen also announced a management reorganization, including a new North American chief above U.S. President Michael Horn, which it said will help strengthen the company’s regional operations and brands. Sales and marketing chief Christian Klinger, 47, is leaving the company. But the board made clear that his departure was “part of long-term planned structural changes and as a result of differences with regard to business strategy.” The company said Klingler’s departure “is not related to recent events.” Müller will oversee his sales duties until a replacement is named.
Jurgen Stackman, the head of Volkswagen’s European SEAT brand, will join the board of management in Klingler’s place, and Luca de Meo, Audi sales and marketing boss, will head SEAT.
What all this amounts to, really, is a shuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic. Volkswagen, the world’s largest automaker (by sales) is in crisis, and it’s not at all clear what the board plans to do about it.
Although the company had promised earlier in the week that there would be “further personnel consequences in the next days” it still appears that no one has been assigned blamed for the scandal, despite reports that some of the company’s highest-ranking engineers would be let go.
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The German magazine Der Spiegel reported earlier this week that three heavyweights would be forced out: VW R&D chief Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Audi R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg, and Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz.
UPDATE, 3:40 PM ET: A follow-up statement was issued by VW: “With the information currently available the Supervisory Board recommended the immediate suspension of some employees. This process is already underway.” VW still isn’t confirming who those employees are.
In resigning, Winterkorn took responsibility but said he did nothing wrong. There was no word about the creation of a promised special committee to investigate the crisis and how it would proceed.UPDATE: The Supervisory Board will oversee the handling of the crisis until the committee is formed.
Müller, who is currently chairman of the Porsche brand, is a favorite of Ferdinand Piech, the longtime Volkswagen leader whose family has a controlling interest in the automaker and whose influence clearly still reigns even after he left the Supervisory Board earlier this year in a power struggle with Winterkorn.
“When it comes to leadership appointments the Volkswagen Groupdoes not need hasty decisions,” said Bernd Osterloh, chairman of the Group Works Council, the labor organization that also wields considerable influence at VW. “We know and value Matthias Müller for his determination and decisiveness. He does not work on his own, rather he is a team player. That is what Volkswagen needs now.”
Interim Supervisory Board Chief Berthold Huber, underscored: “Matthias Müller is a person of great strategic, entrepreneurial and social competence. He knows the Group and its brands well and can immediately engage in his new task with full energy. We expressly value his critical and constructive approach.”
Müller said: “My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation. Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry. If we manage to achieve that then the Volkswagen Group with its innovative strength, its strong brands and above all its competent and highly motivated team has the opportunity to emerge from this crisis stronger than before.”
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