VW names new boss to steer sweeping overhaul

Volkswagen has chosen Herbert Diess as its new CEO, ousting predecessor Matthias Müller. “Müller’s replacement with VW brand chief Diess follows slow progress in reorganizing the group’s car brands, a key pillar of “Strategy 2025” to transform Germany’s biggest car company into a leader in cleaner cars and to move on from its diesel emissions scandal of 2015,” writes Andreas Cremer in a Reuters report.
Analysts welcomed the appointment of Diess, a former BMW executive who has more than doubled profitability at the VW brand since taking charge in 2015, as a “man of action,” according to the Reuters article. Peter Schwierz writes on the e-mobility website electrive that Diess gave electrification a big push at VW. The fact that Diess was also put in charge of research and development might indicate he wants to be in control of electrification and digitalisation, according to Schwierz.

Read the Reuters report in English here.

Read the VW press release in English here.

Read the electrive article in German here.

Find plenty of background in the dossier BMW, Daimler, and VW vow to fight in green transport revolution and the factsheet Dieselgate forces VW to embrace green mobility.