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Rumorpile: Volkswagen Plans A Change To Its Corporate Structure

By William Maley

· 2,948 views

  • Instead of 12 Autonomous Companies, Volkswagen Considers Consolidating Them To Just Four Companies

During the reign of former Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piëch, the company was arranged in such a way where each of the twelve brands were given autonomy to encourage competition between them. Many believed this arrangement made controlling almost impossible and was slow to react to changes in the marketplace. But with Piëch out the company, there appears to be a change incoming in how the company is structured.

 

German publication Handelsblatt reports that Volkswagen will restructure the decentralized system into four holding companies for the 12 brands. Here's how it will break down,

  • Holding Company 1: Volkswagen, Skoda, and Seat to be under the leadership of Former BMW manager Herbert Diess.
  • Holding Company 2: Audi, Ducati, and Lamborghini to be under the leadership of current Audi CEO Rupert Stadler.
  • Holding Company 3: Bentley, Bugatti, and Porsche to be under the leadership of Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller
  • Holding Company 4: MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Commercial to be under the leadership of former Daimler trucks boss Andreas Renschler


This new structure is designed to improve efficiency and help make faster decisions. Each head will be on Volkswagen's board.

 

Now with this possible change, a number of positions will be cut. Such positions include the groupwide head of sales and marketing.

 

Source: Reuters via Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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    Grand Master

    G. David Felt

    Members

    Exciting, this could cause VW to actually finally change and bring new everything to the table. Be interesting to watch unfold and how long to incorporate all the changes.

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    • Mentor

    smk4565

    Members

    Doesn't seem all that different than what they do now.  Porsche was sort of always it's own thing, and Audi/Lamborghini are already part of one unit.  But I am sure some changes were to happen once Piech was gone because he fought the rest of the board all the time.

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    • Newbie

    Susimi

    Members

    Interesting. By the sounds of it their only doing this to cut a few costs and save some money.

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    • Grand Master

    oldshurst442

    Members

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other between the 4 holding companies?

     

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other within their proper holding company?

     

    I understand Holding Company #4 (MAN/Scania/VW commercial) cant really have a friendly competition with any other Holding company....but will there be friendly competition between Man and Scania?

     

    What about low end Audi and VW...because a VW CC can actually fight for market share with an Audi A4 and a lower end A6...ditto with a Passat...

     

    How will platform sharing be made with Holding Company #1 without VW becoming a General Motors from the 1980s and 1990s?

     

    Hell, how will platform sharing be made between Holding Company #2 and #1 without this arrangement becoming like GM from the '80s and '90s?

     

    Piech promoted competition...the success behind that strategy was that each VW brand had its own image...kinda like how GM's brand hierarchy was before the 1980s...when all of GM's brands had their own engines and marketing teams etc...

     

    Im curious because it seems that VW is acknowledging how GM failed and they want to avoid the same mistakes GM made...I cant read the full article so I dont know the answers to the questions I posed.

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    • Enthusiast

    William Maley

    Editor

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other between the 4 holding companies?

     

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other within their proper holding company?

     

    I understand Holding Company #4 (MAN/Scania/VW commercial) cant really have a friendly competition with any other Holding company....but will there be friendly competition between Man and Scania?

     

    What about low end Audi and VW...because a VW CC can actually fight for market share with an Audi A4 and a lower end A6...ditto with a Passat...

     

    How will platform sharing be made with Holding Company #1 without VW becoming a General Motors from the 1980s and 1990s?

     

    Hell, how will platform sharing be made between Holding Company #2 and #1 without this arrangement becoming like GM from the '80s and '90s?

     

    Piech promoted competition...the success behind that strategy was that each VW brand had its own image...kinda like how GM's brand hierarchy was before the 1980s...when all of GM's brands had their own engines and marketing teams etc...

     

    Im curious because it seems that VW is acknowledging how GM failed and they want to avoid the same mistakes GM made...I cant read the full article so I dont know the answers to the questions I posed.

     

    The article doesn't have the answers to that either. 

  • Quote
    • Veteran

    Robert Hall

    Premium Subscriber

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other between the 4 holding companies?

     

    - Will the brands still be encouraged to compete with each other within their proper holding company?

     

    I understand Holding Company #4 (MAN/Scania/VW commercial) cant really have a friendly competition with any other Holding company....but will there be friendly competition between Man and Scania?

     

     

     

     

    Maybe Porsche will take on MAN and Scania w/ a performance heavy truck... ;)

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