Top topic: A new name for Volkswagen
Despite all the crises, the first three months of the year went really well for
Volkswagen
.
Herbert Diess
(63) presented on Wednesday with a profit of 6.7 billion euros, almost twice as much as in the previous year.
The outlook is stable, although the energy and war in Ukraine in particular are creating tense uncertainty.
Meanwhile, a letter from the CEO is making the rounds internally, in which he questions nothing less than the name of the group.
No joke or PR stunt like a year ago when the US subsidiary was suddenly called "Voltswagen".
According to my colleague Michael Freitag, this has already commissioned a team to come up with ideas.
Prototype: Facebook (meta) and Google (alphabet).
So is "Volkswagen" too uncool?
New name for new car?
Feel free to send us your suggestions – we will forward them to: manage.mobility@manager-magazin.de
Heads: Amedeo Felisa ++ Imelda Labbé ++ Desi Ujkashevic
Amedeo Felisa
(76), once Ferrari boss, wants to know again.
He will become CEO of sports car boutique
Aston Martin
after
Tobias Moers
(56) resigned with immediate effect.
The elderly gentleman is now supposed to drive the green transformation forward.
Main owner
Lawrence Stroll
(62) praises: Felisa is "young at heart".
Imelda Labbé
(54) becomes head of sales and marketing at
Volkswagen
's core brand VW - and thus the first woman on the brand board.
Desi Ujkashevic
(55), most recently one of the highest-ranking managers at
Ford
, is moving to
Apple
.
The expert for production and safety technology in the car also has extensive experience with regulators - Apple can certainly use it for the robo car plans.
Company: Audi/McLaren ++ Ferrari ++ Bosch ++ Share Now
Porsche
and
Audi
are known to be pushing into
Formula 1
.
But "the much weaker brand" in particular, for which entry would "actually be the better case" (quote from H. Diess), has a problem: preferred partner
McLaren
does not want it, the deal has basically fallen through.
Now Audi boss
Markus Duesmann
(52) has to find a new partner - under high pressure.
A little tip in between: My colleague Margret Hucko will talk about the glamor, drama and business of Formula 1 in our podcast "Das Thema" on Friday.
She also conducted an exclusive interview with
Jorn Teske
(54), the boss of the
Hockenheimring,
about a possible Grand Prix in Germany.
Ferrari
is and will remain the measure of profitability in the automotive world.
In the first quarter, the Italians delivered 3,251 cars, making 1.2 billion euros in sales - and achieving an operating dream margin of 25.9 percent.
The new
Bosch
boss
Stefan Hartung
(56) looked at figures that were not quite as radiant when he presented his first balance sheet.
The goals of 2021 cannot be achieved for 2022.
The cost pressure is extremely high, especially in the automotive supplier business.
For once, Mercedes
and
BMW
are happy together.
They 've gotten
rid of their
Share Now car-sharing service.
The
Stellantis
subsidiary
Free2Move
bought the loss-maker.
Their boss
Brigitte Courtehoux
(50) now wants to increase sales to 2.8 billion euros by 2030.
But Share Now has never been short of big promises anyway.
The best employers in Germany:
Mercedes-Benz
is and will remain the dream employer par excellence.
No other company is more popular and respected among students than the car manufacturer.
HR
director Sabine Kohleisen
(58) was able to defend the top position among graduates in both economics and engineering.
This is the result of a large, exclusive study of Germany's best employers at 44 German universities, which the Trendence Institute carried out for us.
Apple and BMW follow closely behind.
New mobility: Lyft and Uber ++ Daimler Truck ++ Cariad ++ McKinsey
US mobility
platform Lyft
has shocked investors.
The Q1 figures were actually still quite good, but the prospects were tough.
Lyft needs to invest in drivers because the jobs are becoming harder to fill given labor shortages and gas costs.
The share price fell by a quarter.
Rival
Uber
nervously preferred its own numbers - and presented a whopping $ 5.9 billion hole.
The truck manufacturer
Daimler Truck
has acquired a stake
in the Californian software company
Apex.AI.
Like Volvo, Toyota, Continental, ZF, Hella and others, by the way.
Founder
Jan Becker
(51) promises "Android for the car" - code modules for an operating system.
Volkswagen, better: the software subsidiary
Cariad
, wants to program such a system itself.
Both internally and externally, there are considerable doubts about the chances of success.
But boss
Dirk Hilgenberg
(57) closes the ranks via LinkedIn: "We have broad shoulders. We can carry the load."
The ramp-up of European battery cell production is also benefiting machine builders.
A brand-new study by
McKinsey
identifies a market potential of an additional 5.3 to 7.1 billion euros as early as 2025. Alone: Most European providers cannot do it.
Number of the week: 263 million
According to a recent SEC filing,
Lucid
boss
Peter Rawlinson
(64) can look forward to so much dollar remuneration .
His 2021 base salary was just $575,000.
But before going public in July, he negotiated one of the biggest compensation deals ever (topped by King Elon, of course).
And the short phase in which Lucid was worth a lot of money on the stock exchange was enough for the promised share packages to be allocated.
Overall, Rawlinson would even be able to earn more than half a billion dollars - madness.
Deep Drive: Study of the week
That's good news.
Despite the war in Ukraine and the exclusion of Russia as the world's largest supplier of raw materials from many global supply chains, there is enough for the electric car boom to continue.
The critical metals lithium and nickel are enough to build 14 million electric cars worldwide by 2023, according to a recent study by Transport & Environment.
ghost driver of the week
In New York – like almost everywhere in the USA – there have been more traffic deaths this year than in a long time.
64 to mid-April.
"This is a real crisis," said Mayor
Eric Adams
(61) and launched a campaign worth millions.
With shocking pictures and messages.
Key message: Slow down.
I wish you an eventful week!
Sincerely yours, Lukas Heiny