After the hapless Dirk Hilgenberg, who once came from BMW to Volkswagen, a home-grown company is now to bring about a turnaround in the crisis-plagued software division Cariad. On June 1, Peter Bosch will take over the management position in the VW subsidiary, which is supposed to write the car software for the future, but is instead struggling with serious problems. Bosch was head of production at Bentley and helped turn the British luxury brand from a problem child into a profit generator in the group. This, at least according to the VW narrative, now qualifies him for higher tasks.
Henning Peitsmeier
Business correspondent in Munich.
- Follow I follow
In fact, Bosch is a candidate that Audi CEO Markus Duesmann and VW Group CEO Oliver Blume could easily agree on. Blume, who is also chairman of the board of management of Porsche, has known Bosch for some time. The two had a lot to do with each other when Bentley was still part of the "Sport & Luxury" brand group, which Porsche led until 2020. Today, the traditional car manufacturer is part of the "Premium" brand group, in which Duesmann sets the tone as Audi boss.
Audi and Porsche, both of which have suffered greatly from Cariad's problems, are thus strengthening their grip after they have already filled important positions on the Supervisory Board. Cariad will be "more closely linked to the brands of the Volkswagen Group and further established as an internal supplier for future technologies," according to a statement from VW.
In the environment of the group, however, voices can already be heard that sing the swan song to the software division. Cariad would be degraded to a supplier to the VW brands and lose the very independence that was once considered an argument for building the unit with billions of dollars in investment. On the outside, however, it should not look like this. For this reason, the Cariad board will be reshuffled after Hilgenberg's dismissal, although the decisions have long since been made elsewhere.
Actually, the VW brands Audi and Porsche are not at all interested in the continued existence of Cariad in its current form. Critics point out that Porsche is currently looking for 1000 software engineers who fit exactly the Cariad profile. With such steps, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer is already making life difficult for Cariad, and it doesn't look much different at Audi, they say. In fact, both Audi and Porsche have had to postpone several model launches because of the software debacle. Last but not least, the now fired CEO Hilgenberg had started at Cariad with the promise to finally guarantee the market launches of the electric Porsche Macan and the Audi Q6 E-tron – but with a two-year delay.
For CEO Blume, the new appointment that has now been announced should be a liberation. Because at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, he is likely to be criticized for the Cariad disaster. Now, however, the VW board of directors is setting the next milestone for Cariad, Blume is quoted as saying in advance, "strategically, structurally and in terms of personnel". The new management should not only accelerate the projects, but at the same time open up more to partners. In doing so, Blume breaks with the mantra of his predecessor Herbert Diess: VW programmers should write as many programs as possible themselves so that the company remains independent of global tech giants.
VW is keeping a low profile on further personnel decisions in management. However, the fact that Bosch, in addition to his role as head of the division, is also responsible for finance, purchasing and IT, shows that CFO Thomas Sedran is no longer needed at Cariad. Already at the weekend it was leaked that Blume wants to recall him. New tasks are also being sought for Chief Technology Officer Lynn Longo, it said. On the other hand, personnel manager Rainer Zuehör is to remain. After all, he is supposed to keep the workforce and bring more engineers on board. In addition, he is likely to play a central role in the development of a "leadership and team model", which is mentioned in the VW communication.