VOLKSWAGEN Group has announced that its CEO and chair of the management board, Herbert Diess, is stepping down and will be succeeded by the current head of Porsche, Oliver Blume.
Mr Diess has been in the top job for four years and was responsible for Volkswagen’s rapid expansion into electric vehicles and the man credited with putting in place the industry's biggest EV rollout.
But he reportedly clashed with its work council and board, and the Porsche and Piëch families, who own more than half the voting rights and a 31.4 per cent equity stake in Volkswagen, were said by The Guardian newspaper to have pushed for “a change at the helm”.