The decision is to be made in Wolfsburg next week: Once again, the question is whether the Volkswagen supervisory board will overthrow VW boss Herbert Diess under pressure from the workforce.
And once again it is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, who is feverishly looking for a solution that everyone in the company can live with.
Carsten Germis
Business correspondent in Hamburg.
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VW brand boss Ralf Brandstätter is likely to be the big winner in this new round of the Wolfsburg power struggle between Diess and the works council. As the FAZ found out, Brandstätter will soon become a member of the Group's executive board. In addition, according to supervisory board circles, consideration is being given to giving him responsibility for the volume group of the group - i.e. responsibility for the volume brands VW, Škoda and Seat. Until now, Diess was responsible for this on the group's board of directors.
Also in summer 2020 it was Brandstätter who emerged victorious from one of the power struggles between Diess and the employee representatives on the supervisory board, which were regularly carried out on the open stage via the media.
At that time, Diess had to hand over the management of the VW brand to Brandstätter, who as “Chief Operating Officer” (COO) was already the man for day-to-day business in order to relieve Diess in his dual function as group and brand boss.
Then as now, one thing that spoke for Brandstätter was that he cultivates a different management style than Diess, which his employees often perceive as rough and provocative.
Spent whole professional life in the group
In contrast to Diess, Brandstätter is a typical VW plant. He has spent his entire professional life in the company. He is familiar with the culture of mutual give and take, in which the works council, management and the state of Lower Saxony as the second largest shareholder influence Volkswagen's strategy. Unlike Diess, the industrial engineer is seen as a team player, unlike the polarizing CEO, who never made friends with the “VW system” in Wolfsburg.
Above all, the owner families Porsche and Piëch, who own more than half of the ordinary shares, are sticking to Diess in this new conflict. Although they are also annoyed about the ongoing provocations of the CEO, they see no alternative to Diess in the current situation, it is said. "A change at the top would not be good," they say. In addition, the supervisory board had just extended the contract with Diess in the summer. The unions also do not fundamentally criticize the goals and strategy of the CEO. That is why many in the company expect that Pötsch will succeed in finding a solution with Diess and Brandstätter.
Should Diess nevertheless fall, Porsche boss Oliver Blume will be considered the most promising candidate for the successor.
According to reports, he is currently working on a partial IPO for the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer, which would give Porsche greater independence from Wolfsburg.
Time is of the essence for a decision.
As early as December 9th, the supervisory board wants to decide on investments worth billions and the occupancy of the plants for the next few years.
That is not possible without having clarified the management issue and the upcoming new appointments in the group board by then.
Relationship of trust disturbed
The relationship of trust between Diess and the trade unionists on the supervisory board has been severely disrupted after the VW boss had demanded “much more speed” for the core brand during the transformation in internal meetings and put up to 30,000 jobs to the test.
Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) was also upset.
"Such a course could not be done with the country," he said.
After the last meeting of the mediation committee of the supervisory board, more compromise-ready tones can now also be heard from the works council camp.
The demand “This must go” does not exist.
Brandstätter is valued by employee representatives because he always involved them in important decisions at an early stage.