This accused supervisory boards of "crimes"

Officially, it is said that Volkswagen boss Diess should have more freedom for the management of the car company. In fact, his dismissal as VW brand boss was preceded by an extraordinarily violent dispute between the CEO and the Supervisory Board.

According to media information, the partial disempowerment of VW CEO Herbert Diess was preceded by a violent dispute between the CEO and the Supervisory Board. This, according to the "Handelsblatt", accused the presidium of the supervisory body of legal violations. "These are crimes that happened in the supervisory board presidency and can obviously be assigned there", Diess is said to have said at a conference last week in front of around 3400 executives of the car company. The allegation referred to criticism of the CEO for problems with the Golf 8 and ID.3 models, which was expressed at a Supervisory Board meeting and then stabbed to the press.

VW Vorzüge 133,96

Diess' allegations made in front of the assembled management team in turn sparked outrage among the members of the Supervisory Board Presidium. The committee includes the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, major shareholder Wolfgang Porsche, Lower Saxony's SPD prime minister Stephan Weil, IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann, VW group works council chief Bernd Osterloh and Audi works council member Peter Mosch. A special meeting of the Supervisory Board was immediately called. At this meeting, the direct expulsion of the CEO was said to have been requested. However, no such decision was initially made.

Instead, a further meeting was called for Monday, at which the supervisors then decided to dismiss Diess as the brand boss for VW as a supposedly face-protecting solution. This position is assumed by Ralf Brandstätter, who is considered to be employee-related and was previously responsible for the operational management of the brand. This remains in office as - albeit considerably weaker - the CEO of the entire group. Officially, the personnel decision is justified with the fact that Diess should have more time and freedom for the management of the group. In fact, according to the "Handelsblatt", Diess' allegations against the board of directors are the reason.

Unter Druck gesetzt

This is said to have apologized for his accusation to the supervisory board. Nevertheless, the relationship of trust between the board and the CEO is probably destroyed. The company is already speculating about its final dismissal. The manager had recently assessed his position very differently. According to the "Manager Magazin", he should have called for an early extension of his contract until 2025 - also in order to have a sufficient power base for the further restructuring of the cumbersome group including extensive cost-cutting measures.

However, the powerful employee representatives on the supervisory board and supervisory board did not want to accept this. Already two weeks ago the "Bild" newspaper reported, union boss Hofmann and works council chairman Osterloh planned a "putsch" against Diess, which the two employee representatives vehemently rejected. In any case, the CEO was put under pressure at the Supervisory Board meeting shortly afterwards with clear criticism because of the difficulties with Golf and ID.3. This criticism was then passed on to journalists via Presidium members, obviously with the intention of harming Diess. This in turn annoyed him so much that he let himself be carried away by the charge of "crimes" and thus sealed his own dismantling.