Porsche boss Matthias Müller will be appointed VW Group CEO Friday, according to a new report from Germany. Müller has the support of the majority of the 20-member VW board, according to Reuters, and will be formally endorsed for the position tomorrow.
Müller has worked for various subsidiaries of the current Volkswagen Group since the 1970s. His extensive experience within various parts of the company and the resulting ties with the Porsche-Piech family are said to have swayed the coming endorsement in his favor.
Multiple reports are also confirming that Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Ulrich Hackenberg and Wolfgang Hatz (R&D heads at Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, respectively) are out, substantiating rumors from earlier today that VW Group’s top engineers would be let go. The fate of the American arm’s leader, Michael Horn, has still not yet been confirmed.
Volkswagen Group has not acknowledged the personnel changes publicly, as they will not be final until after tomorrow’s meeting of the company’s Supervisory Board.
“The Executive Committee is expecting further personnel consequences in the next days. The internal Group investigations are continuing at a high tempo. All participants in these proceedings that has resulted in unmeasurable harm for Volkswagen, will be subject to the full consequences,” Volkswagen’s Executive Committee said in a summary statement Thursday. The statement also reiterated the innocence of former CEO Martin Winterkorn.
The committee also recommended that the company submit a voluntary complaint to the state prosecutor, stating that any criminal investigation resulting from the ongoing TDI emissions debacle… “will be supported in all form from the side of Volkswagen.”
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