A summer thunderstorm was brewing over Wolfsburg.

And right in the middle, as always when it comes to Volkswagen: CEO Herbert Diess, the master of the world's largest automobile manufacturer in terms of sales, an industrial colossus with more than 670,000 employees.

Marcus Theurer

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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On Wednesday, the eight-member presidency of the VW supervisory board meets to prevent lightning from striking, high up in the executive floor of the massive office block from the days of the economic miracle at the Volkswagen parent plant in Wolfsburg.

"The matter is serious," said a few days before the meeting in the environment of the group.

After all, it's about nothing less than the technological catch-up race with which VW is trying to catch up with its American rival Tesla.

Another person in Wolfsburg speaks of a “question of fate” that the company needs to clarify.

We are talking about the development of a common new basic software for the cars of more than a dozen VW brands - and the serious delays that are causing it.

The ambitious digital project, which is considered strategically very important, is a matter for the boss.

Diess is responsible for this at board level.

On Wednesday he is supposed to present a convincing plan to the inner circle of the supervisory board on how he intends to get the problem under control.

The control committee as a whole then meets in July.

Digital technology now a critical success factor

"The expectations are high," is what is said now from those close to the Supervisory Board.

Attempts by the Diess camp to downplay the problems are therefore not well received.

"This has to be careful," says one.

Also because the share price is causing a bad mood among the inspectors around the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch.

The VW share has recently developed significantly worse than that of BMW and Mercedes.

The case shows how much the auto industry is changing.

In an industry that for decades was all about camshafts, torque curves and body clearances, digital technology is suddenly becoming a critical success factor.

The delays in software development have far-reaching consequences.

They're setting the whole company back in the race against Tesla for leadership in the electric car market.

Important new car models are coming onto the market later than planned.

Even more: the software trouble and the delayed model launches have caused discord on the board between Diess on the one hand and Audi boss Markus Duesmann and Porsche driver Oliver Blume on the other.

The boss should now straighten everything out again.

No car manager in Germany polarizes as much as Herbert Diess.

The wiry Austrian, who has been managing the group for four years, sees himself on a mission.

He wants to heave the German industrial icon into the future with all his might.

When push comes to shove, that also means: regardless of losses.