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Fewer Wolfsburg watchdogs
:
Ralf Brandstätter
wants to make Volkswagen's China business more independent
Photo:
DAVID HECKER / AFP
Officially,
Ralf Brandstätter
's (53) time in China does not begin until August 1st.
But the upcoming Volkswagen Group board of directors in the Middle Kingdom has long since set the course to get the stumbling automaker back on track in the world's largest car market.
The right contacts can't hurt.
And so Brandstätter recently met the future German ambassador to China,
Patricia Flor
(60).
Politically, Volkswagen is under pressure.
The fact that the carmaker operates a plant in the Xinjiang region, where there are concrete reports of the oppression of the Uyghur ethnic group, has caused criticism.
For the first time now also from the VW supervisory board.
"If there are visible human rights violations on the right and left, I demand action," quoted the "Wolfsburger Nachrichten" as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Jörg Hofmann
(66).
The IG Metall boss openly questions the plant in Urumqi.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, is sticking to the factory.
The company will not close the plant "because we believe that our presence has a positive effect," CEO
Herbert Diess
(63) recently announced to the "Handelsblatt".
But business hasn't been going too well lately either.
Volkswagen's electric cars are selling poorly in China, and market shares are crumbling.
The Wolfsburg-based company cannot afford this in the long term, as the market, with a good 40 percent of their worldwide sales, is by far the most important for them.
In good years, VW earns more than half of its global profit locally.
Brandstätter wants to bring about change with a new structure.
Starting in August, the still-VW brand boss will install his own “China Board”, which will switch and rule across brands for the group on site.
Brandstätter takes over the management himself, he gets support from
Stefan Mecha
and
Marcus Hafkemeyer
.
Mecha, most recently Volkswagen's Russia boss, will become CEO of the Volkswagen passenger car brand in China and will also be responsible for sales for the entire group in the country.
Hafkemeyer, a former Audi and BMW manager with China experience, comes from Huawei Automotive and will become CTO.
Also on the board will be “the regional CEOs of Audi, Cariad and Volkswagen Passenger Cars as well as representatives of important departments,” according to a statement on Friday.
Volkswagen did not say exactly how large the committee will be.
More decision-making authority for China
Under the previous head of China on the Group Board of Management, Volkswagen CEO
Herbert Diess
, a lot was controlled and determined from Wolfsburg.
Among other things, Diess did not do well in the distribution of the scarce semiconductors and annoyed the joint venture partners.
In addition: VW's previous China boss,
Stephan Wöllenstein
(59), is only a brand board member.
The Group brands Audi and Porsche do not report to him.
The coordination between the respective joint ventures suffered as a result, and the structure was not conducive to rapid developments either.
Week-long lockdowns in the country have recently made business even more difficult.
Brandstätter now wants to give himself and his future team more control.
"The China region will have significantly more decision-making authority and independence," he announces.
Brandstätter also wants to coordinate the technical development on site across brands and thus increase the pace.
"In China, for China" is the motto.
The organization must be "more consistently geared towards the special features of the Chinese automobile market".
Time is running out.
When it comes to selling electric cars, Tesla and BYD are far ahead of Wolfsburg, and new domestic brands such as Xpeng and Nio are increasing the pressure.
VW's ID.3 and ID.4 models developed in Europe have so far fallen short of expectations in China, and the ID.6, which was specially developed for the market, is not a bestseller either.
"The ID family was developed without the Chinese market in mind," a corporate strategist told manager magazin in February.
Although the cars are well made in China and beat the rivals in classic engineering parameters - "but they are not well received by the Chinese".
So far, VW has not been able to keep up with the competition, especially when it comes to infotainment.
Brandstätter and his people now want to upgrade the models: larger screens, invest more in the interior again.
This takes a while.
In order not to lose even more time, the future head of China needs less dependence on Wolfsburg.
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