Fix It: Volkswagen Makes Changes to Upper Management

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Volkswagen Group is moving Porsche CEO Oliver Blume over to the core brand, necessitating a broader employment shift within the company to ensure other nameplates aren’t left without leadership. German outlet Auto Motor und Sport indicated earlier in the week that a management shakeup was afoot that would see Blume take over the VW brand in order for group head Herbert Diess to focus on managing the bigger picture.

Blume is rumored to have been tapped to help the company address rampant issues with its upcoming electric vehicles. If you’ll recall, VW has struggled with software issues and production holdups for some time. Last we checked, VW’s plan was to launch the ID.3 with less-than-ideal computer code that it intends to fix later.

Sounds like a bad one.

Considering the company’s track record with software, we’re not enthralled with how this is being handled. Your author has even grown fearful that the next batch of Volkswagens is really going to suck — despite being a fan of most non-diesel VW products for quite some time. Touch-focused interiors, unnecessary connectivity features, and an electric vehicle program that seems struck in a rut are doing more to rattle my faith in the brand than Dieselgate ever did.

Scamming regulators with emissions-cheating software showed us that the brand was willing to play dirty with its diesel models (which were gradually being ruined by air-quality control systems anyway). All that did was teach us that corporate leadership had loose ethics; it’s a lesson we’ve been taught before. But these new problems are making the company look totally inept as an automaker.

Engineers have told us on the sly that the software powering the ID.3 was rushed — hinting that the same might be true for other electrics coming out of Volkswagen Group. As a result, the company ended up with a bunch of on-board systems that fail to interface with each other as intended because they’re effectively speaking different languages.

While most common among the group’s EVs, it’s by no means limited to them. The launch of the eighth-generation Golf was also delayed over software gremlins that required removal.

Blume, who’s headed Porsche since 2015, has a pretty good track record within the company and Auto Motor und Sport thinks he’s the right man to address production issues — or, more accurately, assumes Volkswagen Group feels that way. He is head of production on VW’s management board, after all.

The vacant CEO position at Porsche is rumored to be filled by Skoda boss Bernhard Maier. Other staffing changes include VW’s chief technology officer, Matthias Rabe, recently moving to Bentley to head engineering. Rabe replaced Werner Tietz, who now runs R&D for SEAT. Chief Marketing Officer Jochen Sengpiehl was also fired after the company apologized for an advertisement deemed racist by the public. Volkswagen is expected to make a public announcement about the staffing changes soon.

[Image: U.J. Alexander/Shutterstock]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

More by Matt Posky

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 9 comments
  • Schmitt trigger Schmitt trigger on Jun 04, 2020

    "Touch-focused interiors, unnecessary connectivity features..." Is it only me who feels that autos, which at its core are mechanical devices, have already waaaay too much software? BTW, I am an EE.

  • SV SV on Jun 05, 2020

    "Your author has even grown fearful that the next batch of Volkswagens is really going to suck — despite being a fan of most non-diesel VW products for quite some time." Yes, as someone who has a Mk7 GTI and has enjoyed it (for the most part), that's my fear as well. The electronics are clearly already a disaster, but also worrying is the blatant cost-cutting happening across the board, intended, I assume, to help pay for Dieselgate and the EV push. Of course in America this has been the case for a while with our Malibuized VWs. But it seems to be affecting the sacrosanct European lineup as well. The T-Roc, for a price premium over the Golf, has sub-Polo interior materials, and the build quality of the smaller T-Cross is truly shocking. The Mk8 Golf even shows several signs of this, losing the gas hood strut, felt linings in the glove box and elsewhere, and of course the touch pads replacing physical buttons. Combined with increasingly fussy and unattractive styling and VW is losing its USP. Hopefully this leadership shakeup will turn things around.

Next