Exclusive: VW CEO pushes for contract extension in vote of confidence move – sources

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen Chief Govt Herbert Diess has requested the households who management a majority voting stake on this planet’s largest carmaker to again a contract extension for him in a bid to interrupt a impasse, two individuals aware of the matter mentioned.

The attraction for assist from the Piech and Porsche households comes after Diess was pressured to relinquish duty for the VW model in June to stay as group CEO.

“He’s bringing the difficulty to a head,” one of many sources advised Reuters on Friday.

One other particular person aware of the matter mentioned Diess could evaluate his place as CEO if his continued efforts to reform the multi-brand automotive and truck maker are stifled.

Volkswagen Group, which additionally owns the Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Audi manufacturers, declined to remark, as did the households, the works council and the German state of Decrease Saxony, one other stakeholder.

Diess was appointed head of the VW model in 2015 and group chief government in April 2018. His contract is because of expire in 2023.

German corporations are inclined to deliberate over contract extensions solely a 12 months earlier than they expire, however the attraction comes after Diess struggled to win backing for key reforms.

These included putting in two allies Arno Antlitz as chief monetary officer and Thomas Schmall as chief procurement officer on the administration board, three sources advised Reuters.

Diess has met opposition to those appointments from Volkswagen’s highly effective labour bosses who management half of the 20 seats on the corporate’s supervisory board, or board of administrators.

If labour leaders workforce up with Decrease Saxony, which controls a 20% stake, they will veto vital choices.

Relatively than approving every particular person appointment, the labour leaders insist on approving a “package deal answer” which is “harmonious”, two individuals aware of the deliberations mentioned.

Volkswagen’s labour chief Bernd Osterloh can be mentioned to oppose a contract extension, one of many three sources mentioned.

In a put up on Linkedin this week, Osterloh mentioned there was no battle about administration appointments as a result of no committee on the supervisory board had been formally consulted in regards to the concern.

The problem could be determined “when the time is true” he mentioned.

Diess, for his half, voiced his frustration in a column within the German every day Handelsblatt printed on Friday.

“Once I took workplace in Wolfsburg, I had firmly resolved to alter the VW system. This meant breaking apart outdated, encrusted constructions and making the corporate extra agile and fashionable,” he mentioned.

“Along with many companions with the identical stage of motivation, I succeeded in doing this in lots of locations, however not in some, particularly not but at our company headquarters in Wolfsburg.”