VW brand chief Herbert Diess was named the new CEO of Volkswagen on Thursday, and he’s already got some choice thoughts — and buzzwords.
On Friday, Diess told CNBC that VW brought him in to whip them into shape to keep up with rapid changes in the auto industry: “We have to be fast and very innovative and that is basically why we did this organizational change,” he explained.
Too slow, Joe
VW’s previous CEO, Matthias Müller, has been credited with navigating the carmaking giant through its emissions scandal back in 2015.
But, according to CNBC, many sources feel VW acted too slowly on the company’s most recent scandal regarding unethical diesel emissions tests on humans and monkeys earlier this year — a decision that apparently falls on Müller.
VW’s hoping that, by bringing in Diess, they’ll be able to close the book on “dieselgate” once and for all.
Now, it’s back to biz
Diess told reporters on Friday that he’s reviewing “all options” in VW’s portfolio, and clarified that could mean selling certain operations.
The company will now be composed of 6 divisions, with plans to expand electric vehicle production capacity to 16 factories over the next 5 years.
All-electric VW Vanagon in 2023? Fingers crossed.