Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech quits in power struggle
VW Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech has been forced to resign after VW’s steering committee failed to back his attack on VW CEO Martin Winterkorn.
But that is clearly not enough for Ferdinand Piech – until now chairman of VW’s supervisory board and part of the VW/Porsche founding family – who, at the age of 77, still has fire in his belly for more success, so much so that he felt moved to undermine his prodigy, and VW CEO, Martin Winterkorn recently by cryptically proclaiming to Der Speigel that : “I am at a distance to Winterkorn”.
Behind Piech’s remarks is a desire to make VW the best it can be, and Piech clearly believes Winterkorn has failed in a number of areas, despite the clear successes VW has enjoyed in the near decade since Winterkorn became VW CEO.
The failures for VW in Piech’s view seem to be the inability to find a successful niche for SEAT (although the SUV route they are starting to pursue is perhaps the best bet), the absence of any credible plan to fight the rise and rise of budget brands, and the failure to crack the North American market (which, if VW did in a big way, would certainly make them the world’s biggest car maker).
Piech has a history of dispensing with high-ranking executives he disapproves of, but he seems to have bitten off more than he can chew, at least for now, as the VW Board has come out on Winterkorn’s side, stating that Piech’s remarks had broken the trust necessary for successful co-operation.
As a result, Ferdinand Piech has resigned, along with his wife, Ursula, with immediate effect. But as part of the family that controls 51 per cent of the shares in the VW Group, this grandson of Ferdinand Porsche – who himself turned VW from loss to profit in the 1990s as VW CEO – is unlikely to shrug his shoulders and go fishing.
There’s much more to come from this power struggle at VW.
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