New VW boss: Teamwork central, commitment to e-mobility

Created: 09/01/2022 11:18 am

The new VW boss Oliver Blume speaks on a stage during the IAA.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa/archive image

The newcomer to the top management of the VW group has started his job - and turns to the group of top managers on the very first day.

The expectations of Oliver Blume are high.

Also because under his predecessor, from the point of view of some co-decision-makers, not everything went smoothly.

Wolfsburg - The new Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume emphasized the need for trusting cooperation with all players in the complex company and announced a further expansion of electric mobility.

Under predecessor Herbert Diess, management did a good job overall “strategically and technologically,” he said at an internal manager conference on Thursday.

"Now we have to deliver", said Blume - "in the interest of our customers, our investors and the entire Volkswagen team".

The production expert will initially also remain in charge of the Porsche subsidiary.

"For me, teamwork, focus and implementation are paramount," explained Blume on taking on the additional top function in Wolfsburg.

In the past few years, Europe's largest company has "set the right course," he said, with a view to key issues in the automotive industry such as alternative drives, digitization or the change in the world of work.

Many industry observers also praised Diess for this.

Recently, however, there has often been great tension in relations with the works council, IG Metall and the state of Lower Saxony - the previous VW boss was accused of going it alone with savings proposals, constantly increasing the pressure on the factory lines and a rough communication style.

There were also dangerous delays in the group-wide software strategy.

From Blume's point of view, a systematic and transparent implementation of agreed goals is important.

In the midst of all the upheavals and conversions, the company also needs a degree of continuous stability - for this it is crucial to find the right rhythm.

Under Diess, the second largest car group in the world after Toyota invested billions in the development of electric vehicles.

Blume considers this approach to be fundamentally correct.

“The future belongs to e-mobility,” he said.

“We will maintain the current pace and, where possible, increase it.

I am a fan of e-mobility and I also stand by this path through my work at Porsche.”

At the same time, Blume recently confirmed his interest in the controversial e-fuels - synthetic combustion fuels whose CO2 balance can in principle be favorable, but for which a lot of energy has to be used beforehand.

"The production makes sense if I make it in places in the world where there is an abundance of sustainable energy," he told the "Braunschweiger Zeitung".

E-mobility will "perpetuate itself at some point worldwide, but we have to create solutions to get there".

dpa