Herbert Diess speaks a little erratically this afternoon, sometimes he forgets a verb or doesn’t finish sentences. The past discussions have obviously sapped himself, the German manager who probably enjoys the argument the most.
But no one expected a relaxed mood now. The message from Volkswagen this Thursday is different: Diess is allowed to speak at all after the press conference of the Supervisory Board, so he actually remains Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen. Framed by Hans Dieter Pötsch, the chairman of the supervisory board, and Daniela Cavallo, the top employee representative.
You have done it again: You are able to work at Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, at least for the moment. That was by no means always clear. Because once again they had struggled in Wolfsburg, and really. This on the one hand and the employees and the state of Lower Saxony as co-owners on the other. One of them wanted to cut 30,000 or even 35,000 jobs – the other wanted to prevent that. In the meantime, one could summarize the various statements into a proper drama, whereby the textbook would be very catchy.
The employee side originally wanted to put a request for voting on the agenda
Some time ago Diess came up with these words: “I think the group will not survive unless Wolfsburg adjusts to the new era.” Daniela Cavallo’s answer with regard to her protégés was: “They are afraid. Afraid for their work, for their families, for their existence. And you keep throwing salt on the wound, and that without need!”
As a consequence, the employee side even wanted to write a request for deselection on the agenda of the supervisory board meeting – which was then postponed to this Thursday. In a number of small and large rounds in between, supervisory board chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch was faced with the problem: How to continue with someone who most in the group consider to be technically competent, but with whom many no longer want to work?
It stands sharp for Diess, it had been said from different quarters on the weekend. It was only at the beginning of this week that a solution was paved, which the VW presidium approved on Wednesday evening and the entire supervisory board on Thursday morning. But because they know themselves at Volkswagen that they are very difficult and that everything is in constant flux, they sent out the invitation to the press conference, contrary to customary practice, without naming the participants. Maybe that’s self-irony – maybe pragmatism. Who knows what else will happen?
VW announces a large, expensive renovation project
On Thursday afternoon everyone is at their tables, who one would have expected under normal circumstances, and announce a large, expensive renovation package, in terms of investments and personnel: Wolfsburg will also build the ID3 electric car from 2023 and in general, all of Lower Saxony’s locations will be Emden over Hanover to Wolfsburg richly happy. Payments are necessary to create the transformation – and to defuse the conflict with Diess.
As already expected, Chief Legal Counsel Manfred Döss will succeed Hiltrud Werner as legal director. To control the company’s internal IT, VW has brought the manager Hauke Stars to the group’s board of directors. Hildegard Wortmann, like Diess, formerly active at BMW and currently Head of Sales at Audi, will become the Group’s top sales director on the board. The boss himself concentrates on car software – but at the same time asserts that he still feels “overall responsibility” – and is handing over the management of the important and problematic market of China to Ralf Brandstätter in the middle of next year. At the same time, he will be promoted to the Group’s executive board – a solution that only came about at very short notice in these “dynamic days”, as those involved report. So far, Brandstätter has managed the core brand VW, which he is handing over to the previous Skoda boss Markus Schäfer.
All of this is interesting, especially since the return is expected to rise to eight to nine percent in five years due to the associated savings measures and there is a lot of talk about consistency and vehemence. But will you really continue to work, and will Volkswagen come to a rest?
Cavallo is actually in demand there. But Diess replies: He is very confident about that. Pötsch expresses himself diplomatically: What you have recently experienced is “anything but great”, but it is a sign of great effort that will ultimately benefit the company again. But it will also apply in the future: “Worry when it gets really quiet in Wolfsburg!”