Archives for July 2022

Dr. Herbert Diess, picture courtesy Volkswagen AG

Unless you make your home under a rock, you are well aware by now that Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess has been dismissed. To the avid Volkswagen watcher, it didn’t come as a surprise. He never was a favorite of the powerful unions, and intentions of getting rid of 35,000 workers made the dislike worse. Volkswagen Group global sales were down 22% in the first half of the year, while peer Toyota was down only 2% January-May. That is liable to get a CEO on the bad side of both the unions, and the shareholders. Diess earned a lot of praise for his big bet on EVs, but customers didn’t buy. So, Diess diessmissed. His place is taken by Porsche CEO and Volkswagen Group lifer Oliver Blume. He presided over a drop of only 5% in sales at Porsche, and compared to the rest of Volkswagen, that’s excellent.

As if the above wasn’t enough reason, the media has been full of speculations as to why Diess was let go.  If you want the real dope, ask the insiders. Over the weekend, I talked to my trusted sources, commonly known as the #hallwayradio, all executives at Volkswagen. They have been reliable in the past.  Without further comments, let’s switch over to the #hallwayradio.

[ There is more … ]