As Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Khan was responsible for development in the areas of Connectivity, Autonomous, Shared & Services, and Electric (CASE). His move to Porsche is now imminent.
(Photo: Bernhard Kahrmann for Handelsblatt)
Dusseldorf The Stuttgart sports car manufacturer Porsche is planning to expand its own board of directors. The former Mercedes manager Sajjad Khan should move into the top management committee of the Volkswagen subsidiary as soon as possible and take over the new digital department “Car-IT”, as the company confirmed on Thursday.
This would give Porsche an eighth board member. The company’s board of directors has already approved Khan’s appointment. “The planned expansion of our Executive Board will further promote the successful development of our company,” said the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Wolfgang Porsche.
48-year-old Khan is one of the best-known software specialists in the European automotive industry. A year ago, the native Pakistani with a German passport left his former employer Mercedes prematurely. The exact reasons for the sudden departure from his employment contract were not known at the time. Disputes with other board members were suspected in business circles as the cause.
A year ago, the Daimler Group, which was still in existence at the time, officially announced that Khan was leaving the company in order to become self-employed as a financial investor. After just one year, these plans have obviously become obsolete. Porsche successfully wooed the IT specialist and won him over.
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However, it is still unclear when Khan will be able to take up his new post on the board in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. After leaving the Mercedes board, he is still subject to a lock-up period and cannot start immediately with the sports car competitor.
Mercedes would have to agree to an early end to the ban on switching. However, this is anything but guaranteed, according to Porsche. According to company sources, Khan will not only join the board of directors of the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer, but will probably also advise the parent company in Wolfsburg on IT issues.
Experience at Mercedes, BMW and Magna
Before leaving Mercedes in August 2021, Khan had worked for the Stuttgart-based premium manufacturer for six years. As Chief Technology Officer (CTO), he was responsible for development in the areas of connectivity, autonomous driving and new mobility services (“shared services”). At Mercedes, Khan was regarded as a pioneer of new software with which the Stuttgart-based manufacturer wants to enter the age of automotive digitization.
Before that, the IT expert worked at BMW and was responsible for the “Connected Drive” area. Another former employer of Khan was the Canadian-Austrian supplier Magna. He started his automotive career in the Daimler Group 20 years ago.
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The real surprise when it comes to Khan’s forthcoming appointment to the Porsche board of directors is the fact that the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer now wants to add its own IT and software manager to the top management body. Two years ago, the Wolfsburg parent company Volkswagen created the new software unit Cariad, with which the IT and programming activities across all subsidiary brands – including Porsche – were combined.
It is suspected in industry circles that Khan’s appointment is also linked to Porsche’s upcoming IPO. The VW subsidiary could show greater independence and would make itself more interesting for investors if it would increasingly go its own way in software development. In the past, for example, Porsche had already had intensive talks with Apple about working together.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume pointed out that the automotive industry is currently experiencing what is probably the greatest transformation in its history. Porsche set the strategic course very early on. “Our focus is now on the implementation, which we want to push forward together with Sajjad Khan,” emphasized Blume. This Thursday, Blume will also take over as CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
More: The free swimmer: How CEO Oliver Blume removes Porsche from the VW Group