Volkswagen Names Matthias Mueller As Its New CEO--Update
25 Settembre 2015 - 8:03PM
Dow Jones News
By Ulrike Dauer And Monica Houston-Waesch
FRANKFURT-- Volkswagen AG on Friday named Matthias Mueller as
the company's new CEO, tasking him with the challenge of steering
Europe's biggest car maker through an emissions-cheating
scandal.
The 62-year-old Mr. Mueller will keep his post as chief
executive of the group's Porsche AG unit, a job he held for five
years, until a successor has been named.
The company also said it would streamline its management
structure. From Nov. 1. Winfried Vahland, now chairman of
Volkswagen's Czech brand Skoda, will take over leadership of North
America. Michael Horn will remain President and CEO of Volkswagen
Group of America. Bernhard Maier will take the helm of the Skoda
brand, replacing Mr. Vahland.
Christian Klingler, Volkswagen AG management board member in
charge of sales, will leave the company because of differences
regarding business strategy that aren't related to recent events,
the company said.
The car maker also said some employees have been suspended, but
it didn't identify them.
Mr. Mueller's main goal as CEO will be to lead the group through
the crisis unfolding after Volkswagen acknowledged it deliberately
evaded standards on emission tests for diesel engines on up to 11
million vehicles. Volkswagen's previous chief executive, Martin
Winterkorn, resigned Wednesday over the scandal that has cost the
company nearly a third of its market value.
In addition, the new CEO will likely need to reorganize the
sprawling company with nearly 600,000 employees and 12 independent
brands.
Mr. Mueller, a career company executive who began as an
apprentice in the company's Audi unit during high school in the
1970s, is known internally as someone who can balance conflicting
forces.
At his appointment to lead Porsche in 2010, then-supervisory
board Chairman Wolfgang Porsche noted Mr. Mueller's "unusual
competence at the interaction between an independent brand and an
integrated leading global automobile manufacturer."
Uwe Hück, deputy chairman of Porsche's supervisory board,
welcomed Mr. Mueller. "Through many conversations with Matthias
Mueller, I know that he will preserve the autonomy of Porsche," Mr.
Hück said.
Last year, when Mr. Mueller's tenure was extended five years,
Mr. Hück called him "an employer with a heart."
Mr. Mueller, a close lieutenant of Mr. Winterkorn, officially
joined Audi in 1978 after studying computer science. In 2007, he
was made the head of project management at the Volkswagen group and
at the VW brand.
On Tuesday, Volkswagen said as many as 11 million cars were
affected and possibly subject to a global recall. The company
issued a profit warning and announced it was taking a EUR6.5
billion ($7.27 billion) provision against earnings to cover the
costs of fixing the software.
Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com and Monica
Houston-Waesch at nikki.houston@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 25, 2015 13:48 ET (17:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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