VW CEO Herbert Diess stepping down....

Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
18,869
Location
Los Gatos, CA
Well, CEO Diess stepped in to smooth over the Dieselgate fiasco and acclelerate the move towards EVs...
Porsche's Oliver Blume will assume the role of CEO.

I suspect VW's poor margins made the costly switch to electric drivetrains tough to achieve.
Porsche margins are skyhigh; they are in Tesla territory, but their vehicles are a totally different target market than VW.

i'm sure there is much more to the story. I wish the new guy well.
 
Last edited:
Well that didnt take long....

Post IPO Porsche will be in position to split from VW and if they continue to outperform the greater VW group pressure will rise to do so.
 
Well, CEO Diess stepped in to smooth over the Dieselgate fiasco and acclelerate the move towards EVs...
Porsche's Oliver Blume will assume the role of CEO.

I suspect VW's poor margins made the costly switch to electric drivetrains tough to achieve.
Porsche margins are skyhigh; they are in Tesla territory, but their vehicles are a totally different target market than VW.

i'm sure there is much more to the story. I wish the new guy well.
That's about right. 8 yrs at the helm is fairly long for a CEO of a German automaker.
 
I'll be interesting to see if he " Porsche-izes" VW.
I was thinking the same thing. Except I don't even know what that means.
VW and Porsche both make autos. But their respective markets are worlds apart.
CEOs have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, some are good at startup and growth modes but are not right for the mature long term.

New Porsches are for customers with deep pockets; the cars generally do not even accumulate a ton of miles.
Don't even get driven in the rain! High margin / low volume business model.
VW is the opposite. Low margin / high volume business model.
 
I hope the new CEO will make the software issues a priority and get the cars so they work as they should. Try diagnosing Etron’s, GT’s and Q4’s that have about 20 different fault codes on a ignore list But don’t ignore if it’s a fault.
 
cannibalizing? no way
porsche is low volume, high margin. opposite of vw

Hence the margin challenge - VW's margin will continue to thin as they electrify.

They either have to sell a lot more (which isnt yet happening outside of europe) or raise their prices making their offering even less desirable.

We are already seeing them " decontent" by shedding battery capacity which hits right at the heart of range which is already a problem.
 
This isnt really news he fought off being kicked to the curb last year..

Didnt make it this year.

Stepping down doesnt accurately describe what happened here IMO.
 
This isnt really news he fought off being kicked to the curb last year..

Didnt make it this year.

Stepping down doesnt accurately describe what happened here IMO.
So what you are saying is, VW has problems. The board picked the wrong guy to fix the problems of the last guy.
 
So what you are saying is, VW has problems. The board picked the wrong guy to fix the problems of the last guy.
No not really. He had a 7? year run as CEO.
The board wanted change.. for whatever reasons we may never know...

Basically my take is they thought he wasnt the right guy for now.. Doesn't mean he wasn't the right guy 7 years ago.
 
This isnt really news he fought off being kicked to the curb last year..

Didnt make it this year.

Stepping down doesnt accurately describe what happened here IMO.
Its being described as a surprise by the media.

I wouldnt doubt he was looking to get away but am curious what the backstory you are referring to is.
 
The post covid automotive industry is a different place to the pre covid one. The board must think he wasn’t suitable for this new world we are in.
 
No not really. He had a 7? year run as CEO.
The board wanted change.. for whatever reasons we may never know...

Basically my take is they thought he wasnt the right guy for now.. Doesn't mean he wasn't the right guy 7 years ago.
We are saying the same thing.
 
We are saying the same thing.
I didnt read what you said that way.

You are saying he was the wrong CEO in 2015? or that the new porsche CEO is the wrong guy?
So what you are saying is, VW has problems. The board picked the wrong guy to fix the problems of the last guy.
I'm saying they think he is the wrong CEO for now.
Not the wrong CEO 7 years ago.
Its being described as a surprise by the media.

I wouldnt doubt he was looking to get away but am curious what the backstory you are referring to is.
I was in part referring to this from last year.. not that exact article but that was a quick google.
 
I didnt read what you said that way.

You are saying he was the wrong CEO in 2015? or that the new porsche CEO is the wrong guy?

I'm saying they think he is the wrong CEO for now.
Not the wrong CEO 7 years ago.

I was in part referring to this from last year.. not that exact article but that was a quick google.
I am saying 3 CEOs in 8 years is a problem. Something ain't workin'.
 
CEOs R not product categorized. They can flow acc products made (by their company).

I didnt realieze Diess was so EV oriented.
Hope he stays w/the auto industry & jacks up another co to "speed up ele conversion"...
 
Back
Top