Volkswagen board issues vote of confidence in CEO Diess
FRANKFURT โ The board of automaker Volkswagen has given CEO Herbert Diess a public show of support for his push into digital and electric cars after media reports Diess had clashed with the company's powerful labor representatives over issues including top personnel decisions. The board statement Monday made no mention of Diess' contract, which expires in April 2023. Workers hold an unusual amount of clout at Volkswagen, through requirements that worker representatives hold board seats and because the company's home state of Lower Saxony holds a stake in the company. The board said Diess, 62, and the board had a mandate โto organise the necessary reduction of staffโ and that worker representatives and management would agree by the end of the first quarter next year on a plan to cut fixed costs by 5%. A new board post for technology would be filled by components chief Thomas Schmall, and Murat Aksel will take over group purchasing, a function he holds at the Volkswagen brand level.
Volkswagen CEO, chairman charged in emissions scandal
(CNN) - Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and the company's chairman, Hans Dieter Ptsch, were charged by German prosecutors on Tuesday with market manipulation tied to the carmaker's diesel emissions scandal. The two executives are accused of failing to disclose the huge financial risks of the diesel scandal to shareholders in a timely fashion. Martin Winterkorn, the former CEO of Volkswagen, was also charged by prosecutors. It's the latest fallout from Volkswagen's bombshell admission in 2015 that it had rigged millions of diesel cars worldwide to cheat on emissions tests, a scandal that has cost the company more than $30 billion. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company.