Oliver Blume is a passionate soccer player. In the club he played in the libero position. Translated, this is the “free man” in defense who has no direct opponent on the pitch and who designs the game from behind. From an early age, the now 54-year-old was shaped by his view of his team-mates. And that goes beyond sport.
Even if the libero position no longer exists in modern football, it still describes Blume’s role in the VW Group well. Born in Braunschweig, he is not only the head of Porsche, but has also been responsible for production planning in the entire VW group for years. While VW boss Herbert Diess whirled around the front as a regular and eccentric captain, Blume held the shop together from the inside. From September he will replace Diess at the helm of VW.
Blume is a proprietary product of the VW Group. He studied mechanical engineering in his hometown of Braunschweig and later received his doctorate in Shanghai. In the VW Group, he first held positions at Audi and Seat. In 2009 he took over production planning at VW headquarters. That’s why he knows the insides of almost all 120 of the Group’s plants better than anyone else.
From 2013 Blume was head of production at Porsche. In October 2015 he was promoted to boss when Matthias Müller moved to Wolfsburg as CEO after the emissions scandal broke out. The diesel crisis thus promoted his career. Unlike his colleagues from engine development, producer Blume didn’t have to worry so much.
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With his successes at Porsche, Blume earned the trust of the Porsche and Piech owner families. With the Taycan, he was the first in the group to take the leap into electromobility. Blume repeatedly – and recently more and more – made independent advances at Porsche. For example in production planning, battery development, in-house hydrogen production or software plans. Finally, with the planned IPO.
Blume showed in his own way how to do it better. And without being disloyal. He always got support from the owner families. And he could be more and more certain of that. Because since the lost takeover battle and the subsequent forced integration of Porsche into the VW Group, nothing has been greater than the longing of the owner families that Porsche should always have a special role.
Unforgotten is the low point of the Porsche family when Wolfgang Porsche promised in July 2009, standing in the rain in tears: “Rely on me: The Porsche myth is alive and will never perish.” Blume protected and nurtured the Porsche myth. Even during the corona and chip crisis, it delivered double-digit returns thanks to strict cost discipline. Billions flowed from the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen to the group in Wolfsburg. And the planned IPO also has a family component: the family secures access to their legendary Porsche.
Hardly any path led past Blume
Blume’s approach is evidence of diplomatic skill and healthy self-confidence. “For me, it’s less about self-confidence and more about entrepreneurship. We have been doing this successfully for years.” Over time, Blume, who is a team player with a strong physical condition, gathered more and more executives and owners behind him.
Because Blume does not polarize, can smooth waves, never went into an open confrontation with CEO Herbert Diess. It had been clear for years that if Diess were to be replaced, there would hardly be a way around Blume. Bosch and ZF should also breathe a sigh of relief. Diess had often duped the big suppliers when he went it alone, such as with electromobility, the rejection of hybrids or the fuel cell.
>> Read here: VW boss Herbert Diess has to make room for Porsche boss Oliver Blume – “It’s a smooth sacking”
In the meantime, Blume has played through for all Volkswagen plants what their task will look like in 2030. That is the basis for his decisions. A mental mammoth undertaking. Blume pushed through the production of the first electric sports car shortly after taking office. Four years from the idea to the production of a completely new car with completely different technology, unique for the German car industry, which many accuse of being backwards compared to Tesla.
The Porsche CEO presented the new Taycan electric sports car at the 2019 LA Auto Show in Los Angeles.
(Photo: Reuters)
Blume achieved an image change at Porsche with the Taycan. Suddenly, the sports car brand also became acceptable to environmentalists. Porsche is indeed on the way to becoming a sustainable automobile manufacturer. By 2030, Blume wants to increase the proportion of electric vehicles in all cars sold to around 80 percent.
“Where Porsche competes, we drive to win,” Blume quotes company founder Ferdinand Porsche as saying. At least until the IPO, Blume will remain head of Porsche in a dual role. With CFO Lutz Meschke, one of Blume’s companions can step in at any time if necessary.
On the road to victory at VW, Blume also brought a virtue in the executive floor that had long been neglected in the group: he leads with transparency and team spirit, which managers of the Winterkorn generation had already interpreted as a weakness. It took quite a long time for the decision-makers to finally understand that Blume’s supposed weakness is his strength. He even occasionally meets up with Wendelin Wiedeking, the fallen CEO of Porsche, to exchange ideas. Blume has his very own style – he listens to the team before making decisions and leading them.
He never liked questions about the turbulence in Wolfsburg. But then he said once: “You have to be able to keep calm.” Just like the libero in football, only he is no longer the secret playmaker, but the new 10 from Wolfsburg – further up in the center of the group.
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