German Car Zone

Bernd Pischetsrieder, the Volkswagen heir apparent, was ousted by his former mentor.
Michael Woodhead reports from Frankfurt

As he gave his new Russian business partners the traditional double handshake of friendship in a dreary town south of Moscow, Bernd Pischetsrieder could also have congratulated himself on making his own position rock solid.

The Volkswagen chief executive had won a five-year extension to his contract, worth €2.8m (£1.9m) a year, and vanquished his critics.
The balance sheet was looking healthy again and restructuring of the carmaker was well under way.

And here on October 28 in Kaluga, by laying the foundation stone for a new factory, Pischetsrieder had saved an old Soviet military town by investing more than €300m.

He could hardly have imagined that just one week later he would be unable to save even himself.......

more here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...1628_1,00.html

Thanks for the article phaeton. A good and insightfull read.

I feel for Pischetsreider, he seemed to be doing his job just fine and was starting to getting solid results, but Piech's own agenda clouded this achievement.

At the end of the day do you think Piech did whats best for the company? if not, why on earth is he still on the board?

Thanks phaeton, i like reading things like this.

The article referred to 'Planet Wolfsburg' - the 'incestuous relationship between management, unions and politicians'. I think this is the very thing that is chaining down VW from much, much greater success. VW has tremendous potential but red tape certainly slows down everything.

I am frustrated by Piech's actions and I can only hope that he is doing what is best for the company. After all, we may not see the vision of great thinkers properly until their actions bear fruit.

His idea on the Phaeton has failed, but perhaps not enough time has been given to the project. For some reason, I think if VW continued with the Phaeton to its next generation, it may just work.

Like the A8 did

I honestly don't know if what Dr. Piech did was good or bad for the company in the long run

My only hope is that Mr. Winterkorn can continue Bernd's turnaround

The reason hes on the Board is his share in VWAG & Allies

thanks phaethon, great read!

Everyones Welcome & Thanks for the Thanks

Exactly. Audi took so many years to get the sales of the A8 up - in fact, they are still trying hard to in the US, especially. VW might take longer, but seriously I don't mind.

Difference between A8 and Phaeton: the badge!!! You don't buy a $100.000 Volkswagen BUT one would buy an Audi for that kind of money.

Pischetsrieder, I think, was not the great restructurer nor had he too much influence on the company. Bernhard is much more important (especially for the VW Brand itself) and if he goes (which is possible with Winterkorn as his boss) things could get pretty messy for Volkswagen.

Piech is a smart man and had a lot of visions that worked out just fine. Of course the Veyron or Phaeton at the other end of the scale.
But I agree that he should Volkswagen alone and enjoy his retirement instead of still trying to influence the company.

If you think the difference between the A8 & Phaeton is the badge you need to do more research

I agree Bernhard has done alot for VW, eg new models releases are faster better tackle of US market.

Dr. Pischetsrieder did heaps for VW he advised changing strategy towards US & China when it was falling hired Herr Bernhard & introduced cost saving plans for VWAG as a whole.

VW will reach all its strategic targets all because of Dr. Pischetsrieder