A solution is emerging in the power struggle at Volkswagen. According to insiders, Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess can continue to run the Wolfsburg-based group, but has to give up power. The solution apparently provides, among other things, that VW brand boss Ralf Brandstätter ascends to the group's board of directors.


Both the news agency Reuters and the "Handelsblatt" quote sources close to the group, according to which it is going in the direction of "that the dispute will be settled and Diess remains CEO". Diess, who became CEO of the Volkswagen brand in 2015 and has headed the Group since 2018, has always been infected with his management style in the past. The current dispute goes back to a supervisory board meeting at the end of September : Diess therefore presented plans to cut over 30,000 jobs at the main Wolfsburg plant - the plans were apparently drawn up without involving the works council or the supervisory board.

As a result, not only the works council, but also the state of Lower Saxony as the second largest shareholder in Diess, withdrew their trust. The leadership dispute had blocked the group for weeks, important negotiations such as the occupancy of the plants were reportedly conducted without Diess.

According to the reports, the compromise worked out under the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, stipulates that it will stay that way: Diess should give up power in the operational business and concentrate on strategic issues of the group. Ralf Brandstädter is to take on more tasks in day-to-day business and also to move up to the group's executive board. Brandstädter had already inherited Diess as Chairman of the Brand Board of Management of Volkswagen in 2020 when the latter had to give up his dual role as CEO of the Group and the brand in the course of an earlier dispute with the Supervisory Board.

The compromise probably includes two more board memberships: The 63-year-old VW chief legal officer Manfred Döss is supposed to take over the compliance and legal department according to the “Handelsblatt”. Diess wanted to abolish the department that is currently headed by Hiltrud Werner. The department was created in the course of coming to terms with the diesel scandal and should now be superfluous from Diess' point of view. With Döss on the board, Diess doesn’t get a confidante, but a further opponent: Döss is close to the Porsche and Piëch families, he is also on the board of Porsche SE. The families trust Döss to express their own opinion on the board - even against the chairman of the board. In this way, influence should continue to be exerted on Diess.

Döss's appointment to the group's board of directors is only possible because of a different personality: with Hiltrud Werner's departure, the board of directors would have been entirely male again. However, the supervisory board was apparently able to agree on the former Deutsche Börse board member Hauke ​​Stars as head of the newly created IT department - that would mean another woman on the group board. But that too goes against Diess's line: According to the “Handelsblatt”, the company's own IT department goes back to the former works council boss Bernd Osterloh. Diess himself is said to have said in a small circle that he thought his own IT department was unnecessary .

Should the compromise be decided in the important supervisory board meeting on Thursday, not only would the plant planning for the coming year be in place, but also the board of directors. With the decision, Herbert Diess would continue to set the strategic course, but would no longer be involved in their implementation. It is unclear whether Diess will accept this loss of power. According to the “Handelsblatt”, there are doubts, at least in the Porsche / Piëch family.