Volkswagen Management: CEO Oliver Blume

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Oliver Blume, Chairman of management board

Roles

• Oliver Blume was appointed as the chairman of management board of Volkswagen AG on July 22, 2022 to replace Herbert Diess who resigned by mutual agreement.
• Before his appointment, he was and still the chairman of board of management of Porsche AG, a position he has held since 2015.
• Oliver Blume joined Volkswagen AG in 1994 as a trainee.
• He held management positions for AUDI, SEAT, Volkswagen and Porsche.
• Blume has been a member of Group board of management since 2018.
• Before becoming chairman of board of management of Porsche AG, he was a Member of the Executive Board for Production since 2013.

Achievements

• When he took over as Member of the Executive Board for Production, Porsche was facing ground-breaking challenges. But after he took over, Porsche launched two successful products onto the market under the Macan and 918 Spyder models.
• He spearheaded Porsche's early shift away from diesel engines, investing billions in the project while managing to remain profitable.
• He played a key role in expansion of Porsche's facilities, including a body shop and an engine plant.
• Blume oversaw Porsche's first full-electric vehicle, the Taycan.
• He led Porsche AG through the biggest IPO in Europe.

Performance of Porsche AG

Revenue, net profit, operating margin

Key Items	2013	Growth y/y	2014	Growth y/y	2015	Growth y/y	2016	Growth y/y	2017	Growth y/y	2018	Growth y/y	2019	Growth y/y	2020	Growth y/y	2021	Growth y/y	2022	Growth y/y
Revenue in billion euros	14.3	3%	17.2	20%	21.5	25%	22.3	4%	23.5	5%	25.8	10%	28.5	10%	28.7	1%	33.1	15%	37.6	14%
Net Profit in billion euros	1.9	6%	2.2	16%	2.3	5%	2.6	13%	3.1	19%	3.1	0%	2.8	-10%	3.2	14%	4.0	25%	4.1	3%
Operating Profit margin	18.0%		15.8%		15.8%		17.4%		17.6%		16.6%		13.5%		14.6%		16.0%		18.0%

Deliveries by brand

Brand	H1 2023	Y/Y Growth	2022	Y/Y Growth	2021	Y/Y Growth	2020
Porsche Cayenne	46,884	12%	95,604	15%	83,071	-11%	92,860
Macan	47,755	26%	86,724	-2%	88,362
Porsche 911	26,124	21%	40,410	5%	38,464	12%	34,328
Panamera	17,565	13%	34,142	13%	30,220
Taycan	17,991	-5%	34,801	-16%	41,296	106%	20,015
718 Boxster and 718 Cayman models	11,035	13%	18,203	-11%	20,502	-2%	21,784

Attributes

• He was described by his bosses as someone with a big heart and down-to-eart nature.
• Blume was also described as someone with a high technical expertise.
• Consensus-driven: Blume has been a champion of teamwork and involving workers in decision making. "Oliver Blume is a team player, who does not push himself into the limelight," a source close to Blume said.

Education

• Blume has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Brunswick - Institute of Technology.
• He has a Phd in vehicle engineering from Tongji University.

Deviation from his predecessor

• Unlike his predecessor, Blume is a champion of internal combustion vehicles and sees them as having a bright future.
• He had already been touted has Diess successor before his appointment.
• His predecessor was not a consensus-driven person.
• Unlike his predecessor who wanted to develop 60% of software in-house, Blume is much more open to partnerships.
• Diess was an outsieder. He joined Volkswagen from BMW. Blume is an insider.
• Unlike Diess who was autocratic, Diess is consensus-driven and values teamwork and collaboration.

What do analysts thing of him?

• “His management skills have been very good,” said Philippe Houchois. “Your job as group CEO is to make people work together. And that’s where Diess failed, sadly.”
• “You need someone in Wolfsburg who understands the company and who is prepared to engage with the works council. I don’t know if Oliver Blume is the right person,” Bernstein analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said one year before the management change. “Ralf Brandstaetter could possibly be better at that.”

High Profile management changes under his watch

Michael Neumayer retires as of group quality management

• On September 1, 2023, Michael Neumayer retired as head of group quality management after serving in the position for only 8 months.
• He was replaced by Simon Bracco, Head of Corporate Quality at AUDI AG.

Audi CEO was replaced

• On June 29, 2023, Volkswagen replaced Audi CEO, Markus Duesmann, with company insider Gernot Döllner.
• Duesmann was responsible for the ill-fated software efforts that led to delays in release of new key models.
• Earlier this month, CEO Oliver Blume singled out Audi as lagging behind its competitors as well as its potential.
• Döllner has 30 years experience in Volkswagen and is a former Porsche executive.
• Until his appointment, Döllner was the head of product strategy at Volkswagen AG.
• Markus Duesmann has been CEO for Audi since 2020.
• Before becoming CEO, Duesmann was a board member for BMW.
• Audi deliveries have been declining for 3 consecutive years to 1.6 million in 2022, the lowest level since 2013.
• Last quarter Tesla outsold Audi with 422,875 versus 415,684 units.
• A significant number of launches were postponed or are expected to come after new models from its competitors.

• Also, Audi perfomed poorly in China last year compared to its competitors.

"If you look at comparable models to the A6 such as the BMW 5 Series or the Mercedes E-Class in China, BMW was able to increase its sales figures in 2022. So it's not because of the segment. The A6 has a problem in the market. Audi is not seen on the same level as Mercedes and BMW," said Jochen Siebert, head of JSC Automotive.

• Duesmann had to demonstrate that he is catching up with rivals for him to remain as CEO through 2023.

• Döllner has worked his way up the ranks.

"His first position was as a systems analyst for VW. He moved to Porsche in 1998 and then led the division's Vehicle Concepts and Package department from 2001 to 2010. At the same time, he was the project manager for creating the Porsche 918 Spyder in 2009 and 2010. From 2011 to 2018, Döllner was in charge of the Panamera series. Then, he became head of the Product and Concept department," Chris Bruce of Motor1 noted in an article.

Peter Bosch appointed CEO of CARIAD

• On May 8, 2023, Volkswagen appointed Peter Bosch as CEO of CARIAD, replacing Dirk Hilgenberg who became CEO in 2020.
• Before becoming CEO, Dirk Hilgenberg was formerly a senior vice president in charge of manaufacturing at BMW.
• Peter Bosch has been a member of board in charge of manufacturing at Bentley since 2017.
• Bosch took part in the successful restructuring of Bentley.
• Bosch was also involved in manufacturer of full-electric R-SUVs and Pickups in North America.
• Bosch will also assume responsibility for Finance, Purchasing and IT.
• Bosch has also held several other posts in the group including in Volkswagen Brand.
• Rainer Zugehör will retain his role as Chief's peoples officer(CPO).

Jozef Kabaň, head of design at Volkswagen Passenger Cars was removed

• On January 24, 2023, Jozef Kabaň, head of Volkswagen design was replaced with Andreas Mindt, former director of Bentley design.
• Jozef Kabaň was appointed Creative Art Director Volkswagen and will report to board of management member responsible for Technical Development.
• Andreas Mindt joined Volkswagen in 1996 after graduating with a design degree from the university of Pforzheim.
• Mindt jointed Bentley in 2021 where he was tasked with defining Bentley’s new design language, launched in 2022.
• Mindt joined Bentley from Audi where he spearheaded Audi’s exterior design realignment Audi A1 through to the Audi e-tron GT and from the Audi Q3 through to the Audi Q8.
• Mindt served in Audi from 2014 to 2021.
• Kabaň started his career in Volkswagen Design in 1993 and took part in designing Bugatti Veyron among others.
• Kaban held design roles in Audi(2003-2008) and Skoda (2008-2017).
• Kaban had been chief designer of Volkswagen passenger cars from 2020.
• Rumour has it that Kaban was replaced with Mindt because Oliver Blume was unimpressed with the design of ID.2, which needed to be revised. The ID models have been considered as dowdy and downmarket compared to their rivals.

Klaus Zyciora, head of Volkswagen Group design was replaced

• On January 1, 2023, Michael Mauer was appointed as head of group design, replacing Klaus Zyciora who left the company to persue other tasks.
• Klaus Zyciora spearheaded Golf generations from VI to VIII.
• Zyciora also oversaw the new design era of ID.Family.
• Zyciora joined Volkswagen in 1989 as an interior designor.
• In 2000, Zyciora became head of Interior design and head of exterior design in 2002.
• In 2007, Zyciora assumed the position of Executive Director of Volkswagen Design, where he led a team of 600 designers.
• Zyciora became head of group design in 2020.
• Michael Mauer will also continue his role as head of design at Porsche, a position he has held since 2004 and was responsible for the design of icons such as the 911, 918 Spyder, Macan and Taycan.
• It is not the first time that Michael Mauer is holding the group head of design position. He held this role between 2015 and 2020.

Michael Neumaye appointed head of group quality management

• On January 1, 2023, Michael Neumayer was appointed as head of group quality management, replacing Frank Welsch who retired after 30 years in the group.
• Michael Neumayer will maintain his position as head of quality at Audi.
• Michael Neumayer has worked for Volkswagen Group from 1986 and has held quality management roles at Audi and Porsche.
• Frank Welsch became head of group quality management in February 2021.
• Frank Welsch was previously a board member in charge of technical development at Volkswagen Passenger Cars, SAIC VOLKSWAGEN in China and Skoda in the Czech Republic.

Major structural Changes under his watch

1. Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi and Porsche were given more power over other brands to ensure better priority setting and implementation.

• Production and procurement responsibility was given to Volkswagen Passenger Cars.
• Sales and quality was assigned to Audi.
• Design and development responsibility was given to Porsche.
• 2. Pushed the start of Trinity project from 2026 to 2028.
• That went against plans of CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Thomas Schäfer who argued that if the project is delayed until 2028/2029, the demand for combustion-engined models won't be enough to ensure integration.
• If Trinity plant is compromised, the SSP platform is alsp compromised.
• Oliver Blume had given up using SSP in Porsche models.