“Our customers buy brands, not corporations”

Stuttgart Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume wants to run the group more decentrally than his predecessor Herbert Diess and is giving individual brands such as Audi or Porsche more responsibility. “At the end of January we will meet with all board members for a target meeting,” announced Blume in an interview with the Handelsblatt.

In addition to goals, the group units should commit to clear key figures and develop so-called “virtual equity stories” on this basis, i.e. simulated IPOs. The driver for this is the successful IPO of Porsche in September. The shares of the sports car manufacturer are now worth more than those of Volkswagen.

Blume has also filled important key positions with brand managers in top management and distributed group-wide responsibility for key areas to individual units. The core brand VW takes care of production and purchasing for the entire company, Audi takes care of sales and quality, Porsche takes care of development and design. In this way, Blume wants to bring the group closer to the operative business. “Our customers buy brands, not corporations,” emphasizes Blume.