Volkswagen Chairman Quits With Game of Thrones Proving Too Much For Him

The CEO of Volkswagen has stepped down over apparent tensions on the board. The world’s 2nd largest auto maker has lost one of its pioneers.

The second-largest auto manufacturer in the world, Volkswagen, has suddenly been left without the man who shaped its destiny for the last 25 years. Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of the VW Group, has resigned.

Earlier in April, Piech said that he had “distanced” himself from Martin Winterkorn, the CEO of the VW Group. His comment brought to light the in-fighting of the people at the top in the power corridors of Volkswagen. The fall-out between the two also indicated at the fall in profits for VW and the failure of the company to make much headway into the US market.

As Ferdinand Piech, 78, steps down, the hunt will be on for a new chairman. Until the next one is elected, the interim leadership of the supervisory board will be assumed by Berthold Huber, who is the deputy chairman of the organization. Piech is not the only one to have stepped down as his wife Ursula also gave up her post in the board.

As CEO of Volkswagen, Piech revived the fortunes of the company. He then became the chairman of the board and along with his family he owned a big stake in the firm. Although Piech had flagged off some expensive projects that lost bucks, he was mostly successful in making VW a retaining its name as a big brand and his contribution to VW was as much as that of Steve Jobs to Apple. Piech did not officially reveal his internal problems with the company bigwigs. Other members of the board, including Wolfgang Porsche – cousin of Piech, supported Winterkorn.

However, Winterkorn himself is 67 and it does not seem that he would be able to continue for long as the CEO. Soon enough, he may have to move to the board of directors. Naturally, analysts and company observers are already speculating about who will be the long-time CEO in the Volkswagen Group.

Source: Data and information presented on this blog have been sourced from http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/04/volkswagen-chairman-resigns-in-power-struggle.html