VW defuses boardroom battle, keeps Lamborghini

Reuters Videos
4 年前

Volkswagen is hanging onto Lamborghini.

That after widespread reports it could divest the luxury brand, along with superbike maker Ducati.

Instead, both will remain in the group following a board meeting that also ended a hard-fought internal battle.

The conflict had pitted Chief Executive Herbert Diess against the company’s powerful labour boss, Bernd Osterloh.

They had differed over the pace of change required to morph VW into something more like a tech company modelled on Tesla.

And it looks like Diess has won.

He’s secured board backing for measures needed to accelerate expansion into electric vehicles.

That includes a newly created technology division.

Diess also got allies appointed to key roles.

But he had to drop demands for an early extension of his contract past 2023 - something observers saw as a partial win for Osterloh.

To help fund future plans, VW Group aims to cut overhead costs by 5% and procurement costs by 7% over the next two years.

Shares in the company rose over 5% following the news.