Berlin (AFP)

Volkswagen CEO (VW) Herbert Diess attends a press conference following a meeting of the supervisory board at company headquarters in Wolfsburg on November 15, 2019

German auto giant boss Herbert Diess is stepping down from the brand's presidency to focus on the group, VW announced on Monday.

From July 1, the brand will be managed by Ralf Brandstätter, who already occupies the operational management of the brand, according to a press release published after an extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board of the Wolfsburg group (north of Germany).

"Herbert Diess, who has occupied the two posts so far, thus obtains more free space for his tasks as head of the group", specifies VW. "The objective is a greater focus on the respective tasks at the head of the group and the brand in this phase of transformation of the automotive industry".

According to German media, this announcement comes after weeks of turbulence within Volkswagen. Herbert Diess is the subject of criticism, in particular from the powerful works council, which accuses him of management errors and makes him responsible for software problems on the Golf 8 model and the new ID.3 electric car.

The sprawling scandal of rigged diesel engines had plunged the German automobile industry, pillar of the country's economy, into a historic crisis from which it is still struggling to get out.

© 2020 AFP