10:59 am, October 29, 2015
VOLKSWAGEN’S CEO has abandoned the Group’s aim of being the world’s largest car manufacturer, as a recovery plan is announced
VW’s chief executive, Matthias Muller, has unveiled a five-step plan to get the company back to respectability, following its first quarterly loss in 15 years.
Muller’s two initial priorities will be to solve the issues afflicting up to 11m vehicles worldwide, and to discover how the fitting of the ‘defeat device’ became so prolific. Mr Muller stated: ‘Our customers are at the core of everything that our 600,000 employees worldwide do.
‘We must uncover the truth and learn from it.’
His third step will be to create a new management structure, decentralising the chain of command. He said: ‘The key point is that Group management will be decentralised to a greater extent in the future.’ This will reportedly include more independence for both brands and regions.
VW will also examine its extensive model range, with Muller admitting: ‘We will review in detail our current portfolio of more than 300 models and examine the contribution that each one makes to our earnings.’
There will also be a changing of the Group’s ethos and management behaviour, to ensure VW communicates more effectively and handles mistakes differently. ‘We need a culture of openness and cooperation,’ said Muller, who also singled out creativity as something VW must incorporate.
Mr Muller stated that the final priority was to alter the Group’s Strategy 2018, which will become Strategy 2025. ‘Some of us… did not understand that our Strategy 2018 is about much more than production numbers. A lot of things were subordinated to the desire to be ‘faster, higher, larger’, especially return on sales. The point is not to sell 100,000 more or fewer vehicles than a major competitor. Instead, the real issue is qualitative growth.’
He revealed that Strategy 2025 will be developed in the coming months, and revealed in the middle of next year.
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