Team spirit, fairness and passion are key

An awesome deal. For me it’s an excellent honour to have been provided this place. I’ve labored for the Volkswagen Group for 28 years, was lively with 4 manufacturers and the corporate has been excellent to me – now I need to put my expertise to the service of the group. With passion and staff spirit. Success is at all times the product of a powerful staff.

You solely have one residence. I used to be born in Braunschweig, grew up close to Wolfsburg and studied in Braunschweig. I’ve an excellent sense of connection to the folks of this area: household, buddies, companions alongside the way in which. Including at Volkswagen. So, that is my residence turf. Interestingly, just one Chairman of the Board of Management has been from Lower Saxony: Heinrich Nordhoff, a positively influential determine.

Absolutely. The strategic management of the Group differs considerably from the operational administration of a model. The two roles complement one another completely. In the automotive business, concurrently heading a gaggle and a model will not be uncommon. And it has served the Volkswagen Group properly over a few years as properly. For me personally, linking the 2 roles is a crucial, well-considered resolution for the long-term success of the Volkswagen Group and Porsche: being intently concerned within the processes and applied sciences of an organization with the intention to be able to make the best strategic selections within the Group.

If Porsche AG have been to go public, my twin position would have vital benefits. After a possible IPO, Porsche AG can be an impartial firm with no authority on the a part of Volkswagen AG. In my Group position, I’ll on the identical time work on making certain that synergies live on in each instructions when it comes to gross sales quantity, parts, applied sciences and vegetation. If conflicts of curiosity however come up, we’ll strictly separate issues and I might take a impartial place. The Porsche government board will at all times be capable to make impartial selections. At the tip of the day, the Group and Porsche have the identical curiosity: the sustained development of Porsche with engaging dividends.

With teamwork, tight planning and clear priorities. My calendar won’t change considerably. I shall be on the identical conferences that I’ve been attending for years as a part of the Group Board of Management. Board of Management and Supervisory Board conferences, technique, finance, expertise days or model and plant appointments. Just in a distinct position now. I may also acquire a while by giving up the Group Production and Group Environmental Protection portfolios. I may also delegate greater than ten different mandates, such because the Supervisory Board of Seat and share Group tasks with my Finance colleague Arno Antlitz. The identical applies with Lutz Meschke at Porsche. He has been my confirmed deputy and board member for Finance right here for years.

… certainly, there shall be no want for a 100-day orientation. I’ve the good benefit of realizing the Group properly, with an intensive community of colleagues in place. So, we’ll be capable to get off to a roaring begin. I’ve a transparent plan and am delighted to have a powerful staff. Both within the Group and at Porsche and all the opposite manufacturers. Team spirit, fairness and passion are key. If all of us pull collectively and concentrate on attaining the target, collectively we will do something with this Group.

My administration tradition is the expertise from 4 manufacturers: Audi, Seat, Volkswagen, and Porsche. I’ve been capable of study new issues with every station and the completely different cultures. Personally, I at all times assume when it comes to alternatives. Building on successes, studying from setbacks. Just like in sport. It’s a query of efficiency and staff spirit. I set the guiding rules however go away sufficient room for maneuver for folks to convey their creativity to bear. I worth mutual appreciation and cohesion. That creates a constructive dynamic. I see myself as a player-manager. As a strategist and implementer. Good management is at all times the key to success. The proper focus and velocity make it attainable.

The Supervisory Board can depend on it, as can all of my different colleagues within the Group. This perspective is essential: I like folks. People are at all times on the centre of issues for me. I dwell and breathe this tradition. Success is a staff effort. I understand how to steer and encourage groups. And that’s what I’ll convey to the Group. I would like our staff to be on the high of its recreation. Part of that’s to maintain getting higher on a regular basis. Porsche has solely remained Porsche by continuously altering. I prefer to say this about Porsche, nevertheless it’s equally true for the Group as properly.

I handle an organization in keeping with 5 primary rules. Our Group will solely be as profitable as our incredible manufacturers are. So, my focus is on manufacturers, merchandise, folks, entrepreneurial spirit and sustainability. All of those dimensions must be in lockstep with one another.

The Volkswagen Group stands for the administration of robust manufacturers with engaging merchandise. We have a extremely certified staff. Our Group has a world presence. We obtain economies of scale by means of quantity. As the largest industrial agency in Europe, we’ve a big societal and social duty: for the financial growth of whole areas like Lower Saxony and for greater than 670,000 jobs all over the world. The Volkswagen Group is among the world’s main expertise corporations. All of those components are a powerful foundation for the longer term.

First, I wish to emphasise that the Group Board of Management round Herbert Diess did an excellent job each strategically and technologically. They laid the best groundwork. A great technique is essential. And it’s at all times profitable when it’s translated into the corporate’s on a regular basis operations. Systematic, clear and accountable implementation of goals is of nice significance to me. On the premise of our main building websites, I’ve drawn up a ten-point plan. With these concrete programmes operated out of the Group Board of Management, we’ll be capable to hit the bottom working from day one and obtain success rapidly. The focus is on our monetary robustness, the development of our merchandise, software program and applied sciences, areas like China and North America, in addition to sustainability and the capital market.

Absolutely. E-mobility is the longer term. We will sustain the present tempo and the place attainable, truly enhance it. I’m a fan of e-mobility. I stand by this path by means of my work at Porsche as properly. We obtained a really early begin on e-mobility despite resistance and in 2021 roughly 25 per cent of gross sales worldwide have been electrical autos. By 2030, this determine ought to rise to over 80 per cent electrical sports activities vehicles. At the identical time, our plan is for the corporate to be carbon-neutral in 2030. I wish to convey this expertise to bear within the Volkswagen Group as properly. For me, the essential factor is to think about our autos from the client’s perspective. From the design to the applied sciences and gear.

First issues first: establishing CARIAD because the central competence centre for software program is completely the best strategy. It’s regular for the build-up of an organization to be an onerous course of. Now we’ve to maintain evolving. What software program with what capabilities can we realistically implement in what timeframe? What does that imply for the cycle plans of our merchandise? What core competencies can we need to have at CARIAD, the place are the best factors of contact to the manufacturers and with what companions can we need to collaborate? It’s additionally a query of the continuing growth of our processes, instruments and the organisation. We will assess every little thing with an open thoughts and develop a swift implementation plan.

Not in any respect. A complete view of local weather safety requires a double-e strategy: e-mobility and e-fuels as a complementary expertise. There are presently greater than 1.3 billion combustion engines worldwide. Many of them will nonetheless be in the marketplace in 30 to 50 years, although various starkly by area. Every per cent of e-fuels as an admixture within the gas instantly reduces CO₂ emissions. At Porsche, too, we are utterly dedicated to e-mobility and see e-fuels as complementary. They make sense once they are produced in locations on this planet the place there’s limitless sustainable vitality. We are concerned in a pilot plant in Chile that has robust winds all year long. There, the query of the upper vitality demand within the manufacturing of those fuels is irrelevant. When manufactured on an industrial scale, we assume that costs of lower than $2 per litre could possibly be achieved sooner or later. Beyond the prevailing car fleet, these fuels are primarily essential for the delivery and aviation sectors. Within the Group, Lamborghini is advancing e-fuels as a complementary expertise as properly. In the Group, we’ll proceed to pay attention the technological growth on this entrance at Porsche alone.

The Volkswagen Group can muster an enormous quantity of energy. Our business is experiencing the best transformation in its historical past. In the following 5 years, there shall be extra modifications than within the earlier 50. This transformation generates a whole lot of vitality. At the identical time, a change requires stability. We have to search out the best rhythm right here. Define a transparent technique, resolutely observe by means of and test the route at applicable moments.

It’s essential to be properly organized and have the best priorities. You must strike a stability to have vitality for the job. I’m a household particular person. And sport is essential to me. Whether it’s jogging, mountain biking or tennis. I can actually let go and disconnect whereas exercising. And the great feeling it offers you is sort of a increase of vitality.

I had an excellent childhood and college years in regular circumstances. My soccer staff was essential to me. My father ran a grocery store for a very long time right here in Wolfsburg. My mom labored at a financial institution. That all formed me. The essential factor for me is to deal with everybody as an equal, no matter who they are or what they do. Dealing with folks constructively and having mutual respect are crucial – and that’s equally true for household life as it’s within the office.