Diess out as VW CEO. What now for VW & EVs?

[Cyber_Dav]

Although replaced as VW CEO he is still in charge of all other brands it looks loke. So no big deal? Or might this affect VW's EV plans?

Herbert Diess at VW

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[Cyberman]

I'm not sure why he was replaced, but I can tell you diess: he still makes a lot of money

 

[Crissa]

There's been an update to the story...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-team-but-no-contract-extension-idUSKBN28O2P5

-Crissa

 

[rr6013]

There's been an update to the story...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-team-but-no-contract-extension-idUSKBN28O2P5

-Crissa

Meta narrative is that Diess received a vote. No confidence vote!

Clearly, Diess lost title. CEO as leader - Diess no more.
Diess assumes brand execution outside of operational worker politics. I guess VW wanted an Elon without the rough edges of tech.

 

[DarinCT]

Meta narrative is that Diess received a vote. No confidence vote!

Clearly, Diess lost title. CEO as leader - Diess no more.
Diess assumes brand execution outside of operational worker politics. I guess VW wanted an Elon without the rough edges of tech.

I don't read it that way. The executive supervisory board i.e. the ones that he needs confidence from said yes to him. The non-executive board in charge of his contract said no the extension that he wanted early. In other words, the labor unions know the switch to EV is VW's future, but labor wants their say in how they will achieve it.

Now, Diess has labor on record as not supporting his attempts to change. It's politics, and Diess has collected his get-out-of-jail-free card. Later, when things don't go as planned, he can pin the blame on labor for not supporting his efforts. The labor unions are in a lose-lose situation here, they don't want to give away leverage by endorsing him and they don't want to look like the roadblock. They chose the lesser of two evils. They might very well be defending labor or not, but either way they couldn't give away status so it doesn't really matter.

Diess is playing his part and labor are playing their part. It's almost pre-written. You could have removed and replaced Diess with anyone trying to revolutionize an 84 year old company with German labor market traditions and the same game and results would occur.