Volkswagen shares rise as tensions between chief executive and key stakeholders ease

Volkswagen rose the most in more than a month after its supervisory board disarmed a conflict that’s been brewing for weeks between its chief executive officer and key stakeholders, giving Herbert Diess a clear endorsement while granting some concessions to labour leaders.

In addition to throwing its full support behind Mr Diess, who’s been agitating for a more comprehensive overhaul of the carmaker, the board named Audi finance chief Arno Antlitz the new chief financial officer of the group. Murat Aksel, who used to work with Mr Diess at BMW AG, also will become purchasing chief, according to a statement.

“Herbert Diess has had a major impact on Volkswagen since 2015,” the supervisory board said in the statement, referring to the year Mr Diess joined from BMW. “Without his commitment, the transformation of the company would not have been so consistent and successful.”

Volkswagen climbed as much as 5.7 per cent in Frankfurt, the steepest intraday gain since November 10th and the day’s best performance in the Stoxx 600 Automobiles and Parts Index. The shares are still down about 17 per cent this year.

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While Mr Diess will gain two allies in top roles, VW also announced plans to produce electric vehicles in Wolfsburg, where the company is based, and maintain ownership of the Lamborghini and Ducati brands. Those commitments will please labour unions who lobbied for making electric cars at their main stronghold to safeguard jobs and blocked past efforts to sell Ducati.

Ending Friction

The clear backing of Mr Diess is aimed at resolving the wrangling atop the vast German company with a convoluted governance structure. Mr Diess (62), struggled to fill the chief financial officer and purchasing openings and referred in a newspaper op-ed to there being “old, encrusted” structures for him to break up at VW headquarters. He had also pushed for an extension of his contract that ends in 2023.

“This puts an end, at least for the moment, to the excessive frictions between management and other key stakeholders,” Arndt Ellinghorst, a Sanford C. Bernstein analyst who upgraded VW to the equivalent of a hold Tuesday, wrote in a report. “Yesterday’s resolutions clarify management’s mandate and offer an opportunity to focus on VW’s fundamental matters.”

Bernstein surveyed investors and found more than 90 per cent support for VW’s electric vehicle strategy and that 80 per cent wanted Mr Diess to remain chief executive. Mr Ellinghorst lifted his price target on the stock to €180 from €160.

Cutting Costs

Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piech of VW’s billionaire owner family said in a joint statement that it is “critically important” to them that Mr Diess and his new management team continue to shape the company. They said the chief executive has their full support to implement his strategy, including measures to improve VW’s financial results.

The manufacturer plans to hammer out a plan with unions by the end of the first quarter to reduce fixed costs 5 per cent by 2023. Material costs are to be lowered 7 per cent in the next two years.

“We can best meet the big challenges that lie ahead of us by working together,” Bernd Osterloh, VW’s top labour representative, said in a statement. The main VW passenger-car brand will forge a technology task force similar to Audi’s Artemis project that is currently developing a new electric car to be launched in 2024.

Volkswagen will add a new management-board position for its components-making operations, which will be separated from the purchasing unit. Thomas Schmall will lead the components division starting on January 1st that will include manufacturing battery cells for electric vehicles. – Bloomberg