The VW Group is deposing Audi boss Markus Duesmann. Gernot Döllner is to be his successor from September. The close confidant of CEO Blume should lead the premium brand back to success.
Audi boss Markus Duesmann has to resign. VW chief strategist Gernot Döllner will take over as CEO of the VW subsidiary on September 1, Audi announced today after a special meeting of the supervisory board. Döllner is “now the right person to further sharpen the product strategy and positioning in the important markets for Audi,” said the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Manfred Döss.
Management and parent company were obviously not satisfied
Döllner studied mechanical engineering and joined Volkswagen in 1993. Since 2021 he has been in charge of product and group strategy and the general secretariat in the group. Before that, he held several managerial positions at the VW sports car subsidiary Porsche, including being responsible for the Panamera series. In addition, the new Audi boss is considered one of the closest confidants of the Porsche and VW CEO Oliver Blume.
Döllner should now bring calm into the leadership at Audi and ensure that the announced offensive with more than 20 new cars in the next two years becomes a liberation. Because the premium brand recently failed in several product launches, has a comparatively old model fleet and is also weakening in China of all places, the largest car market in the world. According to the “FAZ”, there were also internal disputes in the management at the headquarters in Ingolstadt, and “Manager Magazin” recently even reported on an “attempted coup” against Duesmann.
According to media reports, he fought for his position at the head of Audi for a long time, but lost it in the end. Because the parent company was obviously not happy with the business development. According to analysts, falling customer demand and growing competition could result in a single-digit return on sales. In 2022 it was still 12.2 percent.
According to media reports, Markus Duesmann fought for a long time to remain at the top of Audi.
Blume wants to make VW more efficient and profitable
Chairman of the Supervisory Board Döss thanked Duesmann “for his important achievements at Audi in recent years”. The 54-year-old, who the former Volkswagen CEO Diess once brought to Audi from BMW, pushed ahead with the electrification strategy in particular. “Audi will be able to continue to build on this in the future,” said Döss.
Works council chief Peter Mosch said: “We welcome Gernot Döllner as the new CEO at Audi. Strengthening the role as an independent brand with entrepreneurial freedom within the guidelines of the VW Group will be of central importance.” “We know Döllner as a versatile manager who has successfully mastered various projects in the Volkswagen Group,” explained the representatives of the VW-owning families, Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piech. “We are convinced that, as a team player, he will implement Audi’s product strategy at high speed.”
For CEO Blume, the change in management in Ingolstadt is another measure in the conversion of Volkswagen. He wants to lead Europe’s largest car company to more efficiency and profitability – for example through a stronger focus on the capital market. The premium group, renamed “Progressive”, which includes Audi, the luxury car manufacturers Bentley and Lamborghini and the motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, is expected to generate a return of 14 percent. So far, the target was nine to eleven percent.