The manager gets more power in the VW group.
(Photo: Reuters)
Dusseldorf Ralf Brandstätter is to become the new China board member of the Volkswagen Group. This was confirmed in company circles on Tuesday evening in Wolfsburg. In this position, he will replace CEO Herbert Diess in the coming year, who will increasingly withdraw from the operating business of the automaker. The 53-year-old Brandstätter has so far been CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. The VW Group did not want to comment on the personnel.
The trigger for the personnel rogue are the persistent problems at Volkswagen in China. Because of the supply problems with semiconductors, the VW Group could not produce in the usual framework in the People’s Republic. This threatens to endanger its position as market leader, which Volkswagen has held in China for years with a market share of around 20 percent. VW has also angered the state authorities because of the lack of chips. The Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer does not produce alone in China, but in joint ventures with Chinese state-owned companies.
There are additional problems with the new electric cars that Volkswagen has been selling in China since this year. The models from the new ID series are selling much worse than expected. Group boss Diess admitted last week that Volkswagen will not achieve the sales target of 80,000 to 100,000 units planned for this year for the new electric cars. 70,000 to 80,000 cars are now likely.
Volkswagen is struggling in China against the established electric competition from US manufacturer Tesla. New Chinese providers such as Nio or Xpeng have also emerged to attack established manufacturers such as Volkswagen in the electronics business. In addition, the software equipment in Volkswagen’s electric cars is not always competitive compared to the new electric models from China. Chinese drivers expect much better digital equipment than European customers.
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Ralf Brandstätter’s move to China comes as a surprise anyway. Just a few days ago it was actually considered certain in Wolfsburg that the VW brand boss would keep his position and also move into the group’s executive board. As it was said in addition in Wolfsburg, Brandstätter was only recently asked by the supervisory board to move to the post in China. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reported about it first.
Billions in profits in China
“Ralf Brandstätter then doesn’t say no,” explained one of the managers involved. He feels he has a responsibility to help the company. Brandstätter has been working for the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer for several decades. Volkswagen needs a really experienced board member in China who is able to get the pending problems in the People’s Republic under control.
The group cannot do without the high profits from China. In recent years, the Chinese joint ventures there have generally transferred more than three billion euros to Wolfsburg every year.
Because of the corona crisis, CEO Herbert Diess was unable to carry out his duties in China as usual and was no longer able to travel to the People’s Republic on a regular basis. Ralf Brandstätter is to move to Beijing and at the same time join the group’s board of directors. The fact that the China department remains on the board underlines the great importance for the entire group.
Volkswagen currently has a local head of China in Stephan Wöllenstein, but he is not represented on the Group’s board of directors. He should return to Germany next spring. Wöllenstein worked for VW in China for almost ten years.
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