VW Newsflash

[DJ]

From here

The jist...

Volkswagen chief quits six months after renewing contract the biggest carmaker in Europe, yesterday announced the surprise resignation of Bernd Pischetsrieder, its chief executive, who will step down on December 31.

Representatives of the company’s supervisory board have nominated Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of Audi, the Volkswagen subsidiary, as his replacement.

Didn't see it anywhere else on the first page of the forum so I guess its news.

[dxg]

From here

The jist...

Didn't see it anywhere else on the first page of the forum so I guess its news.

Hmm... You're right. Interesting as - sex scandals and mandatory extra unpaid hours for german workers aisde - Pischetsrieder was generally thought to be doing "good things" for the brand. Didn't VW just release better-than-everyone-else profits?

This is all VW have to say about it:

Change in the Board of Management of VOLKSWAGEN AG

Wolfsburg, 07 November 2006 - The Presidium of the Supervisory Board of VOLKSWAGEN AG and the Chairman of the Board of Management, Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, have agreed upon his resignation effective from December 31, 2006.

The Presidium of the Supervisory Board has unanimously proposed to appoint Professor Dr. Martin Winterkorn as his successor effective January 1, 2007.

The Supervisory Board will decide on this appointment at its next ordinary Board meeting on November 17, 2006.

Deek.

[DJ]

Apparently it has all come about following the failed bid for Scania. Probably a few fallings out around the boardroom when that was going on.

[AndyW]

I always prefered Piech personally, pissedhistrousers always looked too smug for my liking...

border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" alt="" />

[dxg]

So, VW to be lumped in with Seat and Skoda and the rest hived off into a luxury arm...

Maybe we'll get back to the routes of the people's car (but even Skoda have left that behind with the Octovia 2 and the forthcoming Fabia 2...)

Fun times!

New Volkswagen CEO Plans Brand Shake-Up -Report

Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:04 AM GMT

Email This Article | Print This Article | RSS [-] Text [+] FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Incoming Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn will shake up the group's brands to stop duplication and internal competition, Spiegel magazine said on Saturday ahead of publication on Monday.

The magazine said in an advance summary of a report that Winterkorn planned to create a special premium brand group including Audi, which he currently heads, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini and a mass brand group including Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda.

In a second step, the roles of executive board members would be recast, including creating a central post for a development chief.

Spokespeople for the Wolfsburg-based company declined to comment on the report on Saturday.

Winterkorn will take over as CEO of Europe's biggest carmaker at the start of 2007 should the full supervisory board agree this at a meeting on Nov. 17.

Volkswagen surprised markets with news on Tuesday that current CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder would go at year's end.

Pischetsrieder on Nov. 17 is due to announce that between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs would be cut at the VW plant in Brussels, the magazine also said.

Spiegel also said that if Winterkorn was confirmed in the new post, current Audi CFO Rupert Stadler would succeed him at Audi on an interim basis.

But Wirtschaftswoche, another German magazine, said in an advance copy of its Monday edition that Audi's head of development, Ulrich Hackenberg, was in line for the job.

Winterkorn's planned installation as CEO was endorsed by VW's works council boss, Bernd Osterloh, in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Winterkorn had "excellently positioned Audi in the market," Osterloh was quoted as saying in an advance copy of the newspaper, which will appear on Nov. 12.

"That can only be good for our image," said Osterloh.

German magazine Focus said in an online report that VW Chairman and former CEO Ferdinand Piech had asked Pischetsrieder to step down in a letter sent several weeks ago, adding that Piech was contacted by Focus and had declined to comment.

Comment about the impending changes at the top of Volkswagen has focused on whether Piech, a grandson of legendary VW Beetle developer Ferdinand Porsche, was interfering in management.

There is also discussion over whether differences about strategy for the group's commercial vehicles business or the extent of its support for German truckmaker MAN's (MANG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) contested bid for Swedish rival Scania (SCVb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) were factors in Pischetsrieders's departure.

Source

Deek.

[AndyW]

Makes sense, although personally I'd sell Seat in a heartbeat.

[DJ]

Read that yesterday as well. There is talk again of some sort of Proton-VW tie up as well so we'll see if anything happens there.

[csi_bha]

Makes sense, although personally I'd sell Seat in a heartbeat.

Why sell SEAT?

style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

[Babs]

aren't Seat successful?

[AndyW]

Why sell SEAT?

style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

Well, the short answer is my personal prejudices. style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> They just stick out like a sore thumb in the VAG group, and it doesn't make business sense to me to produce cars that compete with each other. Theres a place for Skoda, VW and Audi but where in the world does Seat fit? The chance to create a 'sporty' brand has largely been pissed away, and while I'm sure that home country sales do create a fair bit of revenue, from a brand point of view the VW cupboard is slightly too crowded for my tastes.

[Petes 16V Sport]

I say develop a rear wheel drive platform and make all seats RWD... then you have

Value Front = skoda,

Front = VW,

Premium Front/Quattro= audi

and seat = rear.

The other brands VW own are more specialist and so already have a niche

The only problem is with this, is keeping seat prices down, considering the additional expense rear wheel drive platforms take to make. Would certainly give a unique selling point though and work on the sporty theme.

Edited November 14, 2006 by Petes 16V Sport

[Gavs_arosa16v]

Prime example

But different people will buy different brands, even though there is the cross over.

Seat is more lairy, and can look cheap. Vw's look a bit more classy dare i say it, thats why they get a bit boring time to time.

[Petes 16V Sport]

yeah but also in reviews of the car, they say that Seats set-up of the cupra isn't as good as vw's of the GTI, remember same company, same platform but different set-ups. Plus I wouldnt be suprised at that as the Golf GTI was a car VW absolutely had to get right, after the years of disappointment.

I think the lupo and arosa were as close as vw and seat ever came in terms of the whole car being the same! Usually seat use softer anti roll bars on lower suspension, which isn't always a bad thing because theres a lot of difference between a fast road car and a fast track car.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Petes 16V Sport

[AndyW]

I say develop a rear wheel drive platform and make all seats RWD... then you have

Value Front = skoda,

Front = VW,

Premium Front/Quattro= audi

and seat = rear.

I can't see Seat ever going RWD personally, it would bump the prices up of the cars too much and would step on the sporting pretentions of Audi, which is of course firmly committed to Quattro.

Prime example

But different people will buy different brands, even though there is the cross over.

Seat is more lairy, and can look cheap. Vw's look a bit more classy dare i say it, thats why they get a bit boring time to time.

Slightly bad example, the price of that Cupra terrible, not only does the car look a bit **** but its only about a grand less, although you do get more equipment I suppose. Personally I could live without the 37bhp.

[db]

Re-map the golf and your off to a winner.