Ladies and Gentlemen,
Many thanks from me, too, for accepting our invitation at short notice. As you know, there were important topics on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. We informed you about the key resolutions in our press release late yesterday evening. Both Dr. Diess and I would also like to explain to you in person the main points and the reasons behind those resolutions.
Yesterday was an important day for the Volkswagen Group. A day which will generate tangible and – of this we are all sure – positive impetus for the next phase of our Company’s realignment.
We have already achieved a great deal in the last two and a half years. Since the fall of 2015, the Volkswagen Group has not only had to surmount the biggest crisis in its corporate history. We also faced the parallel challenge of gearing ourselves for an epoch-making upheaval, for the most profound change that the automotive industry has ever experienced. Today, we are pleased to be able to say that our Company has mastered both of these challenges very successfully.
We have largely put the diesel crisis behind us. Volkswagen has also paved the way for a fundamental transformation unparalleled in the industry. Based on its ambitious strategy, TOGETHER – Strategy 2025, the Group has radically realigned itself while at the same time demonstrating its remarkable economic strength. Everything we do is founded upon integrity and compliance, which we work to instill further through our decisions and processes.
We owe this not least to Matthias Müller, who has done outstanding work for our Company. Not only did he safely and successfully navigate Volkswagen through an extremely difficult time. He also initiated the necessary cultural change and, with great personal commitment, made sure that the Volkswagen Group not just stayed on track but is now operationally and strategically more robust than ever before. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Müller for that on behalf of the entire Company.
We can safely say that Volkswagen has emerged from the diesel crisis with renewed strength. That means we can now dedicate our full resources to sustainably securing our viability going forward and our competitive edge in a rapidly changing environment.
This brings us back to the resolutions we adopted yesterday. After the highly successful first phase of our realignment, the Volkswagen Group is now once again vigorously accelerating its transformation. In this, we are leveraging the experience of the past two and a half years to align the Company’s structures and processes around future needs, profitability and competitiveness.
To this end, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board have resolved an extensive revision of the Volkswagen Group’s management structure. We are confident that, in this way, we have put everything in place to safeguard our position among the leaders of the automotive industry over the long term. And we are mobilizing the full resources of our Group brands in shaping tomorrow’s automotive mobility. More on this from Dr. Diess in just a moment.
The revision of our structures is also accompanied by personnel changes. To secure the management of the Group and of the Volkswagen core brand on a lasting basis at a time of highly dynamic change as well as to continue pursuing our Strategy 2025 purposefully and consistently in the next phase, the Supervisory Board has nominated Dr. Herbert Diess to succeed Matthias Müller as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. Dr. Diess will also head the Volkswagen core brand, with the additional support of a chief operating officer. We are creating this role as a new position which we will occupy as soon as possible. This enables us to ensure the efficient functioning of the new management model.
In transforming the Volkswagen brand, he has demonstrated to impressive effect the speed and rigor with which he can implement radical transformation processes. This accomplishment makes him predestined to fully implement our Strategy 2025 in the decisive years that are now to follow.
Going forward, Dr. Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management at Porsche, will belong to the Group Board of Management. Gunnar Kilian will be the new member of the Group Board of Management for Human Resources. He follows Karlheinz Blessing, who has been instrumental in realigning the Group and the Volkswagen brand during the past two years. Dr. Francisco Garcia Sanz leaves the Company at his own request. Since 2001, he has built up a state-of-the-art procurement organization at Volkswagen. His leadership of the diesel task force was instrumental in overcoming the diesel crisis. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the SEAT brand, he also made a significant contribution to reinforcing the brand.
On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank both of them and the entire Board of Management to date for their great personal commitment and the outstanding results they have achieved. The entire Supervisory Board has great confidence in the new Board of Management under the leadership of Dr. Diess and will emphatically support him in all tasks that lie ahead.
Dr. Diess will now explain to you how we plan to accelerate the implementation of our Strategy 2025…