Volkswagen Diess CEO resigns, replaced with Porsche Director

The CEO of the Volkswagen Group, Herbert Diesshas agreed to leave its post “by mutual agreement” effective September 1, 2022.

He will be replaced by Oliver Blume, currently the CEO of the Porsche brand. According to the automaker, Blume will continue as CEO of Porsche even after taking over as Group CEO and “after a possible IPO” for the luxury sports car brand.

As part of the management reshuffle, Arno Antlitz, the group’s chief financial officer, will also become the company’s chief executive officer.

Rumors of board tension have swirled around the company for some time, with reports suggesting there is uncertainty about Diess’ EV strategy and his management style. However, all seems to have settled when Diess extended his contract until 2025.

Hans Dieter Pötsch, chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, expressed gratitude to Diess saying that “he not only steered the company through extremely turbulent waters, but also executed a strategy fundamentally new”.

Diess joined the Wolfsburg-based automaker in 2015 as the head of its core Volkswagen passenger car brand, and months after the Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal was uncovered. all over the world.

As CEO of the later brand and corporation, Diess championed the shift from diesel to electric vehicles. At the time, only Tesla and other startups were fully committed to electric vehicles.

Under his direction, Volkswagen invested billions of euros to develop MEB, a mainstream EV architecture, with dedicated production facilities.

The MEB currently serves as the base for Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.Buzz, as well as Cupra Born, Skoda Enyaq iV, Audi Q4 e-tron, etc. It will also be used by Ford for at least two models. European-focused vehicles starting in 2023.

As legislative and public sentiment turned toward electric cars, Audi and Porsche collaborated on the development of PPE, a premium EV platform to counter Tesla.

Diess began his career at Bosch before being hired by BMW, where he rose from head of long-term planning to head of purchasing and then company development. company. During that time he ran the automaker’s UK factories and was a director of BMW Motorcycles.

On the other hand, his successor Oliver Blume is the one most suited to the Volkswagen Group. Long considered the ultimate Diess replacement, Blume began working at the company as an intern at Audi in 1994 after completing a degree in mechanical engineering. At Audi, his focus is mainly on the production side.

He then spent time working as a product planner at the Seat and Volkswagen brands before becoming head of Porsche’s production division in 2013 and then its CEO in 2015. .