VW’s new leader is an outsider: That’s an asset, and a liability
WOLFSBURG, Germany — Herbert Diess has one big advantage as he takes over as the chief executive of Volkswagen after his official appointment Thursday. He is not a product of Wolfsburg, the automaker’s base.
Diess also has one big disadvantage. He is not a product of Wolfsburg.
As a relative newcomer to the company, a former BMW executive who joined only two months before an emissions scandal erupted, Diess is not associated with the wrongdoing that continues to weigh on the company’s image and finances, and that remains the subject of major criminal investigations by German and U.S. authorities.
That sets Diess apart from his predecessor, Matthias Mueller. While Muellerr denies having known of illegal software that evaded emissions regulations, he held high-ranking positions at Volkswagen when the socalled defeat device was being developed and deployed.
But unlike Mueller, who spent his whole career at Volkswagen before being ousted this week, Diess is an outsider. Named CEO by the Volkswagen supervisory board at a meeting Thursday, he must now show that he can navigate VW’s insular, hierarchical company culture.
Changing the culture is one of Diess’ primary tasks. It is effectively a condition of the agreement Volkswagen made with U.S. authorities to settle civil and criminal actions stemming from the emissions wrongdoing.
Diess won favor with the Porsche and Piëch families, who own a majority of Volkswagen’s voting shares, by improving profits at the division that makes VW-brand cars despite a decline in the number of vehicles sold.