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Posts with tag piech

Did Porsche, Piech punt VW CEO?

The surprise resignation of Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder may have been orchestrated by VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech (grandson of Ferdinand Porsche) and major VW shareholder, Porsche.

Analysts have long speculated that Piech was grooming Audi CEO Martin Winterkorn as Pischetsrieder's replacement, while Porsche's 20-percent holding in VW saw Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking gain a seat on the VW supervisory board, alongside Porsche's CFO.

Tuesday's move has analysts speculating that Porsche may expand its influence over VW by increasing its stake enough to gain a third board seat, with some investment bankers going so far as to suggest that Porsche may attempt to buy VW outright, or to swap its stake in VW for control of Audi.

[Source: Automotive News - reg. required]

Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder's job is safe -- for now

The two-day meeting of Volkswagen's supervisory board ended with the subdued endorsement of CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder (at right) and his ForMotion restructuring plan, with a pronouncement by chairman Ferdinand Piech approving a five-year extension to Pischetsrieder's contract seemingly likely.

Perhaps responding to saber-rattling by Germany's powerful unions, the board gave lukewarm approval to the restructuring program that threatens up to 20,000 jobs at VW's German plants. Meanwhile, a German newspaper cited VW sources as saying that fully half of the jobs (a total of 50,000) at the company's plants in western Germany are redundant. There seems little chance that VW will shift production to its underutilized German plants - the company confirmed that not only did it not plan to close its manufacturing facility in Belgium, but it is going ahead with plans to build a new facility in Russia, with capacity for 115,000 vehicles a year.

[Source: Reuters, Volkswagen AG]


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