The new Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume wants to speed up the expansion of electromobility. “The future belongs to e-mobility,” said the 54-year-old in front of around 500 top managers of the group gathered in Lisbon. “We will maintain the current pace and, where possible, increase it. I am a fan of e-mobility and I also stand by this path through my work at Porsche.”
He paid tribute to his predecessor Herbert Diess. He did a very good job strategically and technologically. “Now we have to deliver.” Change in management style In his speech, Blume set himself apart from the management style of his predecessor, which often clashes with the works council and, according to critics, only insufficiently involved management in its decisions. Blume emphasized that a strategy is only successful if it is also implemented in day-to-day business. “Teamwork with a systematic, transparent and comprehensible implementation of the goals is of great importance.” , software and technologies, regions such as China and North America, as well as sustainability and the capital market.” Fewer Management Board members In time for the change in management, the Supervisory Board decided to reduce the Management Board by three positions to nine. Blume should therefore concentrate on strategy, quality, design and the software subsidiary Cariad, which has gotten out of step. His core team includes Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz, Human Resources and Truck Director Gunnar Kilian, Chief Legal Officer Manfred Döss, Thomas Schäfer, who heads the important volume brand group with VW, Skoda and Seat, and Markus Duesmann, who heads the premium group with Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and the motorcycle manufacturer Ducati. Also at the top management level are China board member Ralf Brandstätter, technical director Thomas Schmall and IT head Hauke Stars. A management level below was created for the departments previously represented on the group board for sales with Hildegard Wortmann and procurement under Murat Aksel. Michael Steiner, Head of Development at Porsche, will also be in charge of this area within the Group. VW production boss Christian Vollmer will be responsible for this area across the group. With the reorganization, the new boss should have more freedom for his tasks at the top of the company. In order to manage the workload as head of the group and Porsche, the CFOs Antlitz at Volkswagen and Lutz Meschke at Porsche should be at his side. Blume is to remain head of the sports car manufacturer, which belongs to Volkswagen, even after Porsche’s planned IPO. The new CEO wants to advance the transformation of Volkswagen into a leading provider of electric cars and mobility services initiated by his predecessor, but he is setting different priorities. In several interviews, Blume made it clear that in addition to expanding electromobility, he is also committed to the development of eFuels. Diess, on the other hand, rejected synthetic fuels because of their poor energy efficiency and criticized the high level of electricity consumption during production. On the other hand, Blume sees alternative fuels as an opportunity to reduce the CO2 emissions of combustion engines, which will still be on the roads for decades to come.
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