The extensive structural and management ‘realignment’ of the Volkswagen group were explained at a meeting for 15,000 workers at the main Wolfsburg plant.
CEO Martin Winterkorn said: “This is the right response to the increasing challenges and also lays the foundations for keeping the group and its brands on their successful course even in a difficult market environment.”
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He added he was pleased with recent pay negotiations: “I think this is a very reasonable collective agreement. Its terms allow the team their well-deserved participation in the company’s success. At the same time, it does not go too far, but makes sure we can maintain competitive labour costs.”
It also guarantees the creation of 175 additional apprenticeships as well as permanent employment contracts for up to 3,000 temporary personnel.
“In total,” Winterkorn said, “we are making 31 changes in the group and at the brands.” He said the group’s dynamic growth at all levels made these changes necessary: “Volkswagen has become much larger, more international and, of course, somewhat more complex. This extensive realignment is the right response to the increasing challenges.”
There are two main changes at group level: The new management board level function for China headed by Jochem Heizmann reflects the significance of this market. Winterkorn noted VW would increase capacity in China to about 4m units by 2018.
The second main change is the appointment of Leif Östling, president and CEO of Scania until 31 August 31, to head commercial vehicles. Winterkorn said this paves the way for the MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands “to leverage synergies and jointly harness growth potential”.
“MAN, Scania and Volkswagen will have equal rights in the cooperation and stand on an equal footing. The VCV brand will also retain its independence with its own management team that has the ranking of a board of management, its own administration and development as well as its own production and sales.”
Winterkorn said: “Our aim is not merely to make Volkswagen the world’s largest automaker, but more importantly to become the world’s most sustainable automaker as well. That is why we are vigorously committed to our target of reducing emissions by our European new vehicle fleet to below 120 grams by 2015.”
He said this involved an enormous technological and financial effort.
“To do that, every new vehicle generation will be 10%-15% more efficient, our efficiency technologies will be installed as standard in all new models with the help of our modular transverse toolkit (MQB) and we will be stepping on the gas when it comes to hybrid and electric vehicles.”
Well over two-thirds of the group’s EUR62.4bn investment planned for the period to 2016 – plus a further EUR14bn earmarked for China – would be spent on ever more efficient vehicles, powertrains and technologies as well as “environmentally compatible production at our plants”.
