Dusseldorf Herbert Diess has often caused controversy at Volkswagen in the past. Last Friday there was a final break with the supervisory board: the VW boss had to vacate his position at the end of August. “Most of all, the timing was surprising. After all, there has been a crisis at VW for some time in the last few months,” says Handelsblatt editor and VW expert Stefan Menzel in the Handelsblatt Today podcast.
His successor will be Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, but Diess will continue to work as a consultant until the end of the contract in autumn 2025. From September 1st, Blume will initially assume a dual role as chairman of both Volkswagen and Porsche. “A key reason that Blume will hold both positions is to allow Porsche’s IPO to work in the next quarter. Blume stands for Porsche’s last years of success,” says Menzel.
In the podcast, Menzel discusses with host Agatha Kremplewski what the future of the company looks like and why the current development of the electric car manufacturer Tesla can offer an opportunity for VW.
Also: At a special meeting, the EU energy ministers agreed on measures for an emergency plan to reduce gas consumption in the EU. The plan proposed by the EU Commission provides for a voluntary reduction in national consumption by 15 percent between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. Brussels correspondent Carsten Volkery explains exactly how this plan is implemented.
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And: The Russian company Gazprom is reducing the gas delivery volume through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 to 20 percent. This means that only 33 million cubic meters of gas would flow through the most important supply pipeline to Germany.
The reason given was the repair of another turbine. The Russian supervisory authority Rostekhnadzor ordered this review. According to the Federal Network Agency and the Federal Ministry of Economics, there is no technical reason for the renewed throttling. Handelsblatt energy expert Kathrin Witsch knows whether Germany is prepared for such a drastic gas reduction and what consumers need to be prepared for.
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