The Board of Directors of the Volkswagen Group is said to vote on Tuesday about the future of CEO Herbert Diess, but apparently it has not come to that. They would have wanted to ‘prevent a crisis’.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess recently insisted on a contract extension that the Board of Directors should consider. The German wants to try to gain support for continuing his course within the group. At the same time, he runs the risk of being put aside if a vote is taken against it. Diess’ contract will not expire until 2023, but a rejection of the contract extension would put his position under considerable pressure. For that reason it would now have been decided not to honor Diess’ wish to consult his position. They are said to want to avoid a potential governance crisis. That reports the news agency Reuters based on statements of insiders.
The 62-year-old CEO is fully committed to change within the Volkswagen Group by investing heavily in fully electric models and new software. This while the Volkswagen Group is still struggling with the aftermath of the diesel scandal and is struggling with the current corona crisis. Employees, unions and shareholders have therefore criticized Diess’s course and for that reason the CEO wants to gauge whether there is enough support to continue on the path taken. The board members include members of the Piëch and Porsche family, as well as trade union leader Bernd Osterloh. Osterloh in particular has previously been critical of Diess’s work. A spokesman for Porsche explains opposite Reuters that ‘the families’ (Piëch and Porsche, ed.) do remain behind Diess.