Poetsch will first have to be elected to the supervisory board at an extraordinary shareholder meeting in November, which will also have to approve the appointment to the board of Piech’s niece, Louise Kiesling.
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Volkswagen’s controlling parent company Porsche Automobil Holding SE said Poetsch had the unequivocal support of its supervisory board – which includes Piech. While Poetsch, who has been VW’s CFO since 2003, is seen as a safe choice and won’t polarise the power players at Volkswagen, he would shift from day-to-day management to an oversight role without a break.
“We will continue along the road of success of the past years with Martin Winterkorn at the head”, Supervisory Board Chairman Berthold Huber said. Clemens Boersig, Deutsche Bank AG’s former chairman, made the leap, as did Karl-Hermann Baumann at Siemens AG.
The company has yet to choose a permanent new Board Chairman. “Poetsch is almost as experienced a Volkswagen man as Winterkorn”.
Shares in Volkswagen rose on the news, trading up 2.7 percent at 167.50 euros by 1506 GMT but still underperforming a 3.2 percent-stronger German DAX.
Nonetheless, the company is profitable and recently achieved its goal of blowing past Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker in terms of sales. The plan is expected in the coming weeks. Rupert Stadler, head of the Audi brand, could be a candidate for that post. Just a few months ago he faced off against Ferdinand Piëch – chairman of the company’s supervisory board and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche – that resulted in Winterkorn’s victory and Piëch’s resignation.
It is imperative to state that Piech did not outline reasons for falling out with Winterkorn.
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Volkswagen may yet to have found a new chairman, but it’s not about to get rid of its chief executive any time soon.
