Herbert Diess keeps job, will steer VW into its electric future

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Herbert Diess keeps job, will steer VW into its electric future
Ending weeks of turmoil, as company ups its spending on EVs by about half
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REUTERS

Dec 9th 2021 at 11:50AM
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HAMBURG — Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess will stay on in a slightly modified role, the German carmaker said on Thursday, ending weeks of uncertainty about his future as VW hiked its five-year spending plan for electric cars by about half.

Rolf Brandstaetter, who took over from Diess as head of the core Volkswagen brand last year, will join the board and lead a new division entitled Volkswagen Passenger Cars from Jan. 1, the company said in a statement.
He will also take over Volkswagen's China business from Diess from Aug. 1. However, Diess will take on responsibility for the company's software unit Cariad.

"I cannot complain about a lack of responsibilities — I continue to feel fully responsible for the company," Diess said.

Diess's future had been in doubt following clashes with Volkswagen's powerful labor unions.
Diess' management and communication style, warning of tens of thousands of possible job losses in coming years and frequently highlighting the threat of competition from Tesla, angered the carmaker's works council, prompting weeks of negotiations over his future at the firm.

At a news conference on Thursday, works council head Daniela Cavallo said it was happy with the outcome of negotiations.

"I have no interest for us to have these conflicts in public," Cavallo said. "The conclusions of this planning round are clear: We have a solid and robust plan we can all be proud of."

The company's supervisory board presented its annual update to the company's five-year investment plan, outlining investments of 159 billion euros ($180 billion) — up from 150 billion euros last year — and involving electrifying more of Volkswagen's sites across Europe.

Spending for electric vehicles will be raised by about 50% to 52 billion euros, compared with last year's blueprint.
"We are becoming a battery manufacturer, a charging infrastructure manager, software is playing a more dominant role ... we are developing new business activities with an unbelievable dimension for us," Diess said, adding the company expected to generate 20 billion euros of revenue by 2030 from its battery division alone.

The reorganization of the leadership team would see the Volkswagen Group delegating management of individual car brands to focus on these overarching business areas, Diess said.

The carmaker also confirmed it expected its operating margin to be at the upper end of its 6-7.5% target range for 2021.

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/12/09/vw-ceo-herbert-diess-ev-spending/
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Hyperdrive
VW Boosts Future Tech Spending, Enlarges Management Board
By
Christoph Rauwald

December 9, 2021, 7:38 AM CST Updated on December 9, 2021, 9:12 AM CST

  • More than half of outlays will be for software, electric cars

  • CEO to give up responsibility for China business after tension

Volkswagen AG raised its five-year spending plan and overhauled its management board, seeking to catch up with Tesla Inc. and end an internal dispute over the changes needed to get there.

The German company will invest 159 billion euros ($180 billion) in total in the next half decade, of which 89 billion euros are for technologies like software and electric cars. That’s more than in last year’s rolling plan, pointing to a faster departure from combustion engines. By 2026, about a quarter of all sales will be electric only, VW predicted.

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Herbert Diess
Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

VW’s aggressive transformation hasn’t been without controversy, and Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess has come under fire from labor representatives accusing him of plotting mass layoffs to make VW more nimble.

Diess’s position at the helm was the subject of public debate in recent weeks, and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch sought to quell any speculation today about his future by calling Diess an “agent of change.” At the same time, the CEO ceded some tasks to others on the management board, which has now swelled to 12 members.

“Our exceedingly robust and solid financial base enables us to finance the necessary investments on our own,” Poetsch said in a statement. “We are also therefore very confident that these investment decisions will steer the Volkswagen Group to future success.”

Bigger Board
Among the changes in responsibility announced on Thursday, Diess will hand control of of VW’s China business to Ralf Brandstaetter, the head of VW’s main car brand. VW also named a new head of legal affairs to the board and elevated Hildegard Wortmann from its Audi unit as new head of sales.

In a nod to worker representatives keen to keep a strong power base at home, VW confirmed a plan to add a new electric car factory near its global headquarters in Wolfsburg. The site will produce some 250,000 vehicles as part of the “Trinity” project.

Diess acknowledged the difficult discussions by referring to an “intense process” in the run-up to today’s unveiling. At the same time, he said he never lost the desire to run the carmaker, calling the job “very close to my heart.”



VolkswagenEU98 billion through 2026 (includes digital technology)
MercedesEU40 billion through 2030
StellantisEU30 billion through 2025 (includes software)
GM$35 billion through 2025 (includes autonomous vehicles)
Ford$30 billion by 2025


Europe’s largest automaker is working to get its overhaul back on track after momentum fizzled in recent months when chip supply bottlenecks disrupted manufacturing and the carmaker lost market share in China, its biggest market. After delivering a much-praised electric-vehicle strategy in March to tackle Tesla’s dominance, renewed infighting among key stakeholders has overshadowed the industry’s biggest push into electric cars.

In the run up to the meeting, Diess caused outrage among powerful worker representatives by suggesting that massive job cuts might be needed to compete with much nimbler rivals like Tesla that’s about to start making cars at a new factory near Berlin. The brouhaha caused Thursday’s supervisory board meeting to be delayed by a month and speculation about Diess’s future as CEO.

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Beyond internal wrangling, VW shares got a boost this week after Handelsblatt reported that the Porsche and Piech family is exploring a sale of part of their stake in the automaker to support a separate listing of the Porsche sports-car subsidiary, while no decision has been made. A spokesman for Porsche SE declined to comment on the report.

On Thursday, the stock was down as much as 1.1% at 182.36 euros. The shares have gained about 20% so far this year.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ing-on-new-tech-to-101-billion-to-catch-tesla
 
 




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