2024 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:13
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has strengthened his back in the power struggle at VW Supervisory Board Chairman Ferdinand Piëch. The company still needs his expertise, said the politician.
Former chancellor and ex-VW supervisor Gerhard Schröder spoke up in the power struggle at the top of Volkswagen and took sides with the chairman of the board, Ferdinand Piëch. The former CEO had "done an immeasurable amount" for the company and its employees, said Schröder, who, as Lower Saxony's Prime Minister, sat on the highest control body of Wolfsburg from 1990 to 1998, the "Bild" newspaper. "The company still needs his expertise, his contacts and his strategic skills."
Although Piëch had moved away from CEO Martin Winterkorn in a “Spiegel” interview, a majority of the members of the supervisory board had backed the current CEO. As a result, criticism of the actions of the VW Patriarch Piëch was also loud.
Moving away from Piëch would be a mistake
Schröder warned against underestimating the 78-year-old's experience with the future direction of Volkswagen: "The supervisory board would make a big mistake if it now abandoned its chairman." As head of government in Hanover in 1993, he himself brought the manager "against resistance" to the top of VW. "Everyone must now pull together: the management board, the supervisory board, the shareholders and the works council."
The works council head of the VW subsidiary Audi called for a return to factual issues on Tuesday. "Above all, the question of how we deal with the effects in the trouble spots of this world should be in the foreground," said Peter Mosch to the "Handelsblatt". It was not a good thing to publicly discuss personnel issues.
One of the most pressing issues for the overall very successful group, in addition to the weak returns of the VW core brand and the still small market shares in the USA, is the faltering development of a budget car for the booming markets in the emerging countries. According to information from “Manager Magazin”, Volkswagen is now looking into a collaboration with the Chinese company Great Wall - after simulation games for a cheap car had not yet produced any concrete results. VW did not want to comment on this: "We do not participate in speculation," said a spokesman in Wolfsburg. According to the magazine, Sales Director Christian Klingler is to lead the project.
Winterkorn first public appearance
The group has been trying for some time to gain market share with its own low-cost brand, which is primarily tailored to the growing middle class in Southeast Asia, India and China. The former Opel boss Hans Demant had been hired for this. When it comes to the “budget car” issue, VW also relied on the expertise of the Japanese car maker Suzuki. But then a fierce dispute broke out between the two partners over engine purchasing and insights into model development.
In Hanover, Winterkorn signed a declaration on Wednesday with Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) on the construction of a lightweight construction center in Wolfsburg. It was his first public appearance since his visit to the auto show in Shanghai was canceled last week. (Dpa)
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