• Brands and regions
to be strengthened
• Vahland moves from ?koda to the Volkswagen brand Board of
Management
• De Meo, Maier and Stackmann in new functions
• Board Member for Sales Klingler leaves the Group
• Contract with Board
member for Procurement Garcia Sanz extended
The Supervisory Board
of Volkswagen AG approved a new management structure for the Group and the brands as
well as for the North America region
today (Friday) in Wolfsburg. The interim Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Berthold Huber,
commented: “The new structure strengthens the brands and regions, gives the
Group Board of Management the necessary leeway for strategy and steering within
the company, and lays a focus on the
targeted development of future- oriented
fields.”
Details of major
changes:
Reorganization of the
North America region / Successor Prof. Vahland
The Supervisory Board decided on the reorganization of the
Group’s activities in North America. The markets in the USA, Mexico, and Canada
will be combined and significantly strengthened
to form a new North America region. Effective November 1,
the Group’s activities in the region
will be led by Prof. Dr. Winfried Vahland (58), formerly
Chairman of the Board of Directors at
?koda, who in this new role becomes a member of the
Volkswagen brand Board of Management. Prof. Vahland’s successor as Chairman of
the Board of Directors at ?koda will be Bernhard Maier (55), until now Board
Member for Sales and Marketing of Porsche AG. Michael Horn (52) remains
President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.
Porsche brand group
with Bentley and Bugatti
At Group level the management structure will be oriented
even more systematically to the modular toolkits. These toolkits feature standardized
technical components for each automotive vehicle segment (volume, premium,
sport and commercial vehicles). Consequently, a Porsche brand group with
Bentley and Bugatti will be established for the sportscar and mid-engine
toolkit. The toolkit strategy will come under the even closer guidance of the
Group CEO; a
separate department will be set up for this purpose. The
Audi brand group with Lamborghini and
Ducati will be continued as will the Truck Holding, and the
Power Engineering and Financial
Services business lines. The volume brands Volkswagen (with
principal responsibility for the
modular transverse toolkit), SEAT, and ?koda will be
represented by one member each in the
Group Board of Management.
New Group functions
for efficiency and future-oriented fields
Group functions will concentrate more closely on efficiency
and future-oriented fields; organizational units, for example for Group product
strategy, new business fields, cooperations and holdings, connected car
activities, and CO2 steering, will therefore be set up. According to Huber,
“new, strong Group functions, such as for standardization and harmonized
production processes, will lay the timely foundations for efficient
decision-making. We will become faster and more agile.” Furthermore, a Chief
Technology Officer will analyze and, if necessary, co- steer technical
developments throughout the Group as mandated by the Group Board of Management.
Upgrading of brands
and regions
At the same time, existing corporate bodies, structures and processes
will be streamlined at Group level, in particular by strengthening the brands
and regional accountability. To that end the Volkswagen brand will introduce a
management structure with four regions, each led by a local CEO with a direct
reporting line to the brand Chairman, Herbert Diess.
Streamlining the
Group Board of Management
The production department at Group level, until now led by
Thomas Ulbrich in an interim capacity, will be abolished with immediate effect.
This is one consequence of delegating responsibility to the brands and regions.
Berthold Huber commented: “Going forward, the brands and regions will also have
greater independence with regard to production. So it follows that they should
also hold the responsibility for these activities.”
The interim Supervisory Board Chairman emphasized that “one
key point is that we are scaling back complexity in the Group. In recent weeks,
we have already undertaken important steps such as separating Group and brand
functions.” He said the developments of the last few days had underscored the
urgency of this project: “We will not lose any time. The new management model
will be implemented at the beginning of 2016.” This would bring the Board
greater freedom to address urgent issues concerning Group strategy, development
and steering.
Further Board of
Management changes
The Supervisory Board extended the contract with Francisco
Javier Garcia Sanz (58), Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen
Aktiengesellschaft with responsibility for Procurement, by five years.
Christian Klingler
(47), member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
with responsibility for Sales and Marketing and member of the Volkswagen brand
Board of Management with responsibility for Sales and Marketing, is leaving the
company with immediate effect as part of long-term planned structural changes
and as a result of differences with regard to business strategy. This is not
related to recent events. The new CEO Matthias Müller will head the Sales
department at Group level in an interim capacity until further notice.
Jürgen Stackmann
(54), previously Chairman of SEAT, will take over Christian Klingler’s
function as a member of the Volkswagen brand Board of Management. Stackmann is
succeeded by Luca de Meo (48),
currently Audi AG Board of Management member for Sales and Marketing. These
personnel changes become effective from October 1.
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