Volkswagen Names Herbert Diess as its New CEO

Volkswagen, a German automaker, announced on Thursday that the company’s board has ousted Mattias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen.

Müller will be replaced by the Volkswagen brand Chief Herbert Diess as the new CEO of the automaker company. Diess joined the company in July 2015, after previously working at BMW.

Last Tuesday, Volkswagen stated that it was considering replacing Müller. The move is seen as the company effort to make a break with the diesel emission scandals that rocked the automaker and led to large penalties.

Volkswagen suspended a top executive earlier this year, after news broke that the automaker was involved in tests of the effects of diesel fumes on humans and monkeys.

Back in 2015, the company admitted that it had used special devices designed to skew results on the U.S. emissions tests.

Müller, on the other hand, was never charged or directly linked to the scandals, however many thought that Volkswagen was slow to act as details were made public.

Meanwhile, the automaker’s board has thanked Müller for his service to the company.

“Matthias Müller has done outstanding work for the Volkswagen Group,” stated Hans Dieter Pötsch, Volkswagen supervisory board chairperson.

Pötsch also added that Müller had led the company through the “greatest challenge in its history,” realigned the strategy of the company and mad changes to the culture of the German automaker.

“For that, he is due the thanks of the entire Company,” he said.

 

Volkswagen to Work with Toyota

The truck division of Volkswagen and Toyota has agreed to work with each other in electric vehicles and self-driving technology. This marks as an unusual partnership between the two companies.

The negotiations on the alliance, which was announced on Thursday, are expected to see Hino Motors and Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH to co-operate broadly in procurement and logistics in addition to hybrid engines, connectivity, and other technologies.

Meanwhile, both companies stated that the alliance had been struck with “a sense of urgency,” which was driven by the increasing investment costs, a shortage of truck drivers, and the need to create new technologies quickly.

However, the chief executives of their truck divisions stated that a deeper collaboration between rivals was needed for commercial vehicles since they provided the basic social infrastructure for public transportation.

“It will be difficult to solve the various challenges commercial vehicles face by being part of the Toyota group alone,” Yoshio Shimo, the chief executive of Hino Motors, stated. “We need allies.”

The agreement would also allow both companies to expand their global footprint using the presence of Hino in Asia and Volkswagen’s Truck & Bus in Europe.

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