Diess plans far-reaching power grab as new CEO of Volkswagen: Report

BERLIN, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Herbert Diess, the designated chief executive officer (CEO) of German carmaker Volkswagen, wants to increase the corporate powers associated with his new position, the magazine "SPIEGEL" reported on Wednesday.

According to "SPIEGEL", Diess has expressed a desire to lead the wider Volkswagen Group, as well as its flagship brand Volkswagen, simultaneously. Brand- and corporate management tasks have traditionally been kept apart at the Wolfsburg-based automotive giant.

The magazine cited an insider close to the supervisory board who interpreted Diess ambition to lead the Volkswagen Group and Volkswagen brands simultaneously as motivated by the CEO's desire to continue to exert direct influence over the development of the company's flagship brand.

The source noted, however, that Diess still wanted to nominate an "operative director on the brand-level to cover for him in the day-to-day business." The success of Diess' plans hinges on the approval of the Volkswagen supervisory board which is scheduled to meet on Friday.

"The proposal will be the subject of heated discussion" the source told "SPIEGEL". Nevertheless, Diess had already secured the support of Osterloh, as well as the Porsche-Piech industrialist family which owns a controlling majority of Volkswagen shares.

The sprawling corporate network of Volkswagen currently employs more than 600,000 staff across the world and includes the brands Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Bentley, as well as a truck producers MAN and Scania.

Diess' influence at Volkswagen would grow even further if the supervisory board supports long-standing plans to combine the carmakers' high number of independently operating brands into four core groups.

Under the new corporate structure, a "volume group" would combine the mass-appeal brands Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat, alongside a "super-premium group" including Porsche, Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini, a "premium group" constituted by Audi, and a "commercial utility holding" encompassing truck production.

Volkswagen recently announced a wider personnel reshuffle within its executive management. Aside from current CEO Matthias Mueller handing over his post to Herbert Diess, Volkswagen Head of China Jochem Heinzmann is also widely-anticipated to step down as part of the wider changes at the automotive producer. Enditem