The business portal writes that the top managers have already been informed by Blume that they are about to be kicked out. The supervisory board should decide this after the VW general meeting next Wednesday in Berlin.
A spokesman for the Volkswagen Group said on Friday evening when asked by the German Press Agency that “we are currently analyzing the situation of Cariad and the projects very closely”. In the course of this, decisions have already been made and, for example, the software architectures have been arranged chronologically. “Possible decisions on personnel changes were not made,” said the spokesman.
Regarding the future of the software unit, it was said that it had always been emphasized that Cariad would be retained: “For the Volkswagen Group, the expansion of our software competence is and will remain an important component for the attractiveness of our products.”
In the VW Group, the development of a software business is the central topic for the future, alongside the expansion of e-mobility. The focus of the newly founded Cariad IT division is the development of its own car software. But the issue turned out to be much more complex.
CEO Herbert Diess, who resigned in 2022, had aimed for a platform for fully digitized electric vehicles from 2026. However, because there were delays, dissatisfaction grew – especially among the subsidiaries Porsche and Audi, who said that luxury-class customers shouldn’t have to wait too long for new functions. Coordination and development problems at Cariad had postponed model launches. Diess’ successor Oliver Blume straightened out the software strategy.
According to “Business Insider”, the two premium brands Porsche and Audi are said to have put pressure on the VW boss. They think little of the work at Cariad and fear further delays in important vehicle models. In the first quarter of 2023, Cariad slightly increased its loss compared to the same period last year from 416 million to 429 million euros. The group referred to the high investment requirements.
In after-hours Tradegate trading, the VW share temporarily rose 1.56 percent to 127.48 euros.
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