“In recent years, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management have set the right strategic course by moving in the direction of electromobility and software. Now it’s time to implement the initiated measures with a streamlined Group management. For this purpose, the complexity on the Group Board of Management will be reduced and the focus sharpened”, explained the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, and added: “Together with an outstanding team on the Board of Management and the Extended Executive Committee, Oliver Blume will ensure that the Volkswagen Group continues to successfully and forcefully meet the challenges of the transformation.”
According to CEO Oliver Blume: “The interplay between the Group, brand groups and brands is key for the success of the Volkswagen Group. The brands will be given more business responsibility. The Group will define the objectives, establish the guardrails for operational implementation and provide synergies for the platforms and technologies. Internally, the brand groups will assume responsibility for reducing the complexity of the management.”
The Group Board of Management will be focused on main responsibilities such as strategic orientation, important decisions on the company’s direction, allocations of capital and financial requirements. At Group level, the specialist interdepartmental functions such as Purchasing, Development, Production and Sales will be pooled in an Extended Executive Committee. This committee will be responsible for combining the brands and divisions, ensuring operational excellence and realising cross-brand synergies. In addition to his role as member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand with responsibility for Procurement, Murat Aksel will continue to be responsible for Procurement at Group level. In addition to her position as member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG with responsibility for Sales and Marketing, Hildegard Wortmann will continue to be responsible for Sales at Group level. Michael Steiner, Board of Management member with responsibility for Research and Development at Porsche, will also manage the Group Development Division and Christian Vollmer, member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand with responsibility for Production, will manage the Group Production Division.
“Murat Aksel and Hildegard Wortmann have done outstanding work in handling their Group responsibilities. I am pleased that we have been able to secure their services for the Extended Executive Committee for the long term. I am also pleased that we have been able to acquire Michael Steiner and Christian Vollmer for the new committee; they have been with the Group for many years and are regarded as experienced managers with a high level of professional and personal skills”, said Mr. Blume.
As part of her responsibility for Sales at Group level, Hildegard Wortmann will – together with the Board of Management members of all the brands with responsibility for Sales – ensure that the Sales Division is equipped to handle future challenges and continue to press ahead with the Group Sales programme NewSales2030. In addition, she will continue to be responsible for the strategic Group initiative Mobility Services. “Hildegard Wortmann has successfully laid important groundwork to allow us to place an even greater focus, Group-wide, on the customer. She will display great commitment in advancing the initiatives that she has started and, in so doing, ensure continuity in the Extended Executive Committee for these important projects”, said Oliver Blume.
As Chief Purchasing Officer of the Group, Murat Aksel, together with his team, will continue to manage the procurement organisations of the brands and regions and ensure that they are strategically set up to meet the challenges of the future. “The continued implementation of the strategy for transforming Group Procurement is a key factor for the supply chain challenges faced by the entire Volkswagen AG today and in the future,” according to the CEO, Mr. Blume.