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Rolf Schulten
![VW boss Herbert Diess makes room at Volkswagen: Ralf Brandstätter (51, picture) is now the CEO of the most important brand in the VW Group.]()
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VW boss Herbert Diess makes room at Volkswagen: Ralf Brandstätter (51, picture) is now the CEO of the most important brand in the VW Group.
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Getty Images
![Herbert Diess (61), on the other hand, remains CEO of the entire Volkswagen Group.]()
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Herbert Diess (61), on the other hand, remains CEO of the entire Volkswagen Group.
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Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
![Diess worked at BMW from 1996 to 2014 and has headed the VW Group since April 2018.]()
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Diess worked at BMW from 1996 to 2014 and has headed the VW Group since April 2018.
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plant
![After the decision to change management, Diess had already announced a tightening of the savings course in the group.]()
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After the decision to change management, Diess had already announced a tightening of the savings course in the group.
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VW CEO Herbert Diess (61) must give up power. The VW supervisory board decided this at a special meeting on Monday evening. From July 1, Ralf Brandstätter (51) will take over the management of the most important group brand at Volkswagen. Diess had managed the group and brand in a dual role since he took over as CEO, Brandstätter had taken care of day-to-day business for the VW brand as COO.
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Recently problems with the successful company
The group hopes to get the acute problems at the Volkswagen brand and in the VW group under control. In mid-May, Diess had to stop production for the new generation of the VW successful Golf model: The automatic emergency call assistant e-Call, which has been legally required for all new models since March 2018, did not work properly due to software errors. In line with the change in management, the problem has now been solved and the production stop lifted.
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The ID.3, with which VW wants to start electromobility from summer, is also said to suffer from software problems and may therefore initially be delivered with a slimmed-down range of functions and later retrofitted. VW is due to the tightened CO2nd-Limits since January have had to sell the ID.3 this year in order to reduce CO2nd-To avoid penalties.
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Works council chief as the biggest critic
Most recently, a racist advertisement for the new Golf also caused a shit storm. VW apologized for the advertising mistake. Works council chief Bernd Osterloh (63) said: «I am ashamed of this spot. I certainly speak for the entire workforce. » The influential company chairman also sits on the group supervisory board and, in this special dual role, had recently sharply criticized the problems with the introduction of the Golf.
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And the diesel scandal continues to concern the group: At the end of May, a German court ruled that VW was obliged to take back the cars affected by software manipulation of diesel engines and had to largely reimburse the purchase price. In the United States, new fines are in the billions. And in September the trial against former Audi boss Rupert Stadler (57), who is accused of having manipulated diesel vehicles against the better knowledge, begins.
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Change at VW too rapid?
Diess may not have had time to pay sufficient attention to the problems that arise. Diess has only been part of the group since 2015 and succeeded Matthias Müller (67) as Group CEO in 2018. After the VW diesel scandal, he quickly redirected the VW group to electromobility as a drive for the future. Diess continues this change with vigor, has enacted drastic austerity measures, but in the face of rapid change apparently has difficulty convincing the workforce of its course. Also special is the corporate structure at VW with the mighty Osterloh, but also the German state of Lower Saxony, which holds and has a 20 percent stake in VW.
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At the same time as the change in management at VW it became known that purchasing director Stefan Sommer (57) is leaving the group at the end of June at his own request. Sommer had headed the supplier ZF in Friedrichshafen (D) until 2018, who had recently announced the reduction of 15,000 jobs.
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