Who Will Be The New VW Boss?

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

On Friday, the supervisory board will present a successor to the resigned VW boss Martin Winterkorn. In addition to the favored Porsche boss Matthias Müller, other candidates can also raise their hopes

Following the resignation of VW boss Martin Winterkorn as a result of the scandal over manipulated exhaust gas values in diesel vehicles, the Group's supervisory board will appoint a successor on Friday. As the five-member presidium of the control committee announced on Wednesday evening, "proposals for new staff members" will be submitted by then.

Porsche boss Müller is a high favorite

Matthias Müller has been a top candidate for the executive chair in Wolfsburg since the power struggle between the former VW patriarch Ferdinand Piech and the now resigned Martin Winterkorn. The Porsche boss began his career at Audi with an apprenticeship as a toolmaker. After studying computer science in Munich, the native of Chemnitz, who had fled the GDR with his parents, returned to Ingolstadt to work in the IT department and later rose to head product management.

There the paths crossed with the then Audi man Winterkorn, who rose to boss in 2002. When Winterkorn was called to Wolfsburg in 2007, he took Müller with him. After the power struggle with Porsche, Winterkorn installed Müller as Porsche boss.

Müller describes himself as a team player and has led the "almost family company with 20,000 employees" from record year to record year. The car manager caused confusion with contradicting statements this year. At first, the 62-year-old felt too old = " for the chief position at VW, but later he did not rule out promotion.

Rupert Stadler is already Winterkorn's successor

Rupert Stadler is ten years younger. The Audi boss belongs to such as Müller the VW Group has long years. In 1990 the controller came to Ingolstadt and in 2007 took over from Winterkorn in the Audi executive chair. Even under Stadler, the premium manufacturer rushed from record to record and is the most profitable brand in the group.

However, Stadler is not an engineer, which was previously considered a prerequisite for the chief position in Wolfsburg. Accordingly, he is not considered a top candidate for the successor to Winterkorn. In addition, Stadler was acted as the new VW CFO even before Winterkorn resigned, as the previous incumbent Hans Dieter Pötsch is being traded as the successor to the supervisory board chairmanship of Europe's largest car manufacturer.

VW brand boss Diess is considered an outsider

Herbert Diess and Andreas Rentschler enter the race with outsider chances. Both have to live with the disadvantage of having only recently been part of the company. At BMW, Diess, an engineer in vehicle technology and mechanical engineering, was also considered a possible successor to BMW boss Norbert Reithofer. But the supervisory board decided in favor of Harald Krüger.

The 56-year-old has only been head of the VW brand since July. He lacks the stable smell and like Rentschler the power in Wolfsburg to be considered a serious successor to Winterkorn. However, even when he was on the board of directors for purchasing at BMW, Diess proved to be a tough cost suppressor and was accordingly feared by the suppliers.

Renschler lacks a job profile

Andreas Renschler is almost half a year longer at VW than Diess. The head of the commercial vehicle division was poached by Daimler last year and was considered one of the potential heirs of the then counted head Dieter Zetsche. The short time that Renschler has been with VW certainly does not help to become one of the favorites. In addition, unlike Diess, the 57-year-old is not an engineer, but a business economist.

Vahland with outsider chances

After the power struggle between Winterkorn and Piech, Winfried Vahland was next to Matthias Müller as the top candidate for a possible successor to Winterkorn. The 57-year-old industrial engineer was already able to shine as VW's China boss and led the Skoda brand into previously unimagined spheres. In contrast to the spring, Vahland currently only has outsider opportunities to be lifted into the Volkswagen executive chair by the supervisory board on Friday.

So it will be exciting to see who will be running for the executive chair at VW on Fridaywill do. Perhaps the VW supervisory board is showing itself to be a visionary and with its decision heralds a generation change at the top of Europe's largest car manufacturer. Because top favorite Müller, at 62 years old, is only considered a candidate for transition. A man like Rupert Stadler, who made Audi a successful premium manufacturer, may be a man of numbers as a business economist, but has now developed into a car guy - and he has long been traded as the Crown Prince.

BMW showed what a generation change should look like when the 49-year-old Harald Krüger was silently made CEO of the Munich-based company. And Krüger will not be at the top of the Munich team for more than eleven years, since according to the BMW regulations no boss may be older than 60 years old = . A resignation of Winterkorn would have been just as impossible with the premium competitor as a possible successor to the top favorite Müller. (AG / TF / FM)