Autoblog

It's no secret that Wolfgang Bernhard, the VW brand's head honcho, is not happy with the fact that current VW Group Chairman Bernd Pischetsrider is resigning at the end of the year. Pischetsrieder was one of the major players involved in bringing Bernhard over from DaimlerChrysler and tasking the dapper executive with VeeDub's turnaround. Adding salt to the wound is who was chosen to replace Pischetsrieder as the Chairman of the VW Group – Martin Winterkorn, Bernhard's counterpart at Audi who will on January 1st of 2007 become his boss.

We've heard rumblings that Bernhard wants out of VW over all this, and Automotive News is reporting that internal discussions have taken place concerning the cancellation of Bernhard's contract. This would allow Bernhard to immediately seek employment from other automakers, which at the moment is blocked by a non-compete clause that lasts for two years after he leaves the company. What's more, Bernhard has already met with former colleague Dieter Zetsche, who could likely find a place for Bernhard at DaimlerChrysler. AN hypothesizes the most vulnerable exec at DCX right now is Tom LaSordo who, despite being a nice enough guy, hasn't been able to get The Chrysler Group back on track after suffering heavy losses this year. Would we like to see Bernhard back at DaimlerChrysler? Damn skippy – this is the guy who once rode into the Detroit Auto Show on the back of a Viper motor. He's got our vote.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. required]

The earliest reports on the "resignation" of Volkswagen group CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder indicated that while he'd be replaced as chief executive, he would be retained to take on "special assignments". What such ambiguous duties might entail was a mystery, but it's looking like he may be put in charge of managing a merger between two major European truck companies.

MAN has been maneuvering to buy out Scania with offers over $13 billion, but the Swedish company has been fighting to maintain its independence from the Germans (sound familiar?). Volkswagen AG happens to be the largest shareholder of both companies.

At the moment, Volkswagen is neither confirming nor denying the reports of Pischetsrieder's potential re-assignment. The supervisory board is due to meet on November 17, when they'll make their decision, so we'll just have to sit tight until then.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

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]

Bernd Pischetsrieder can go home and breathe a huge sigh of relief -- his contract was unanimously renewed by Volkswagen AG's board of directors, giving him another crack at the chief executive job at the automaker through 2012. The news comes just before the annual meeting, and not a moment too soon-- with union problems, revenue issues and scandals plaguing the automaker, let's just say he's probably feeling fortunate about his newfound job security.

[Source: Financial Times]

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]

As Volkswagen's supervisory board heads into a key meeting Wednesday, the future of CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder and his aggressive ForMotion restructuring plan is increasingly in doubt.

Half of the supervisory board is made up of labor representatives, who are up in arms about Pischetsrieder's plan to cut up to 20,000 jobs at VW by 2008. Pischetsrieder's contract is up for a five year extension, and the labor reps want the restructuring plan watered down before they will consider approving his contract renewal. While the chief exec's contract extension won't be on the agenda this week, it must be decided one way or the other in time for a major shareholder's meeting in early May.

Labor costs at VW's German plants are among the highest in the industry, and implementing sweeping changes at these factories is a cornerstone of the company's restructuring plan. If Pischetsrieder is replaced by a more labor-friendly CEO, it's likely that VW's goal of tripling profits by 2008 will fall by the wayside, and investors will head for the exits.

[Source: Reuters]