Piech to Remain as Vw’s Board Chairman
Two of Volkswagen’s biggest shareholders have agreed on Wednesday to prolong the term of Ferdinand Piech as board chairman. The decision was rather contradictory to the earlier plan of removing VW’s board chairman and finally ending a power brawl between the German state of Lower Saxony and Porsche.
In a statement given by Premier Christian Wulff at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, he said that the deal “means that Mr. Piech and I have reached agreement on Volkswagen’s future.” The agreement was right on timing as Piech tries to secure his position at Volkswagen. It should be noted that Piech was also the one responsible for ousting Bernd Pischetsrieder as chief executive in favor of his long time protégé, Martin Winterkon.
Piech who is now 69 years old was scheduled to vacate his post in May as head of the supervisory board at VW, Europe’s biggest automaker. But due to the insistence of some shareholders including the Lower Saxony, Piech is to continue with his dual roles as Volkswagen’s chairman and a controlling owner of Porsche, maker of 911 sports cars with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
The plan to change Piech was drafted last January 2006 as agreed upon by Porsche and the Lower Saxony. The board was also supposed to choose a new chairman who is not affiliated in either one of VW’s two biggest shareholders. Fortunately for Piech, he was backed by Volkswagen’s labor leaders who happen to hold half of the board’s seats. To cut the story short, when voting time came, Piech got the majority vote which helped him to keep his position as board chairman.
Now that Porsche is firmly occupying the driver’s seat in Volkswagen, “it will be interesting to see what the state of Lower Saxony does with its stake, given it seems to no longer want to argue with Porsche,” said Michael Tyndall an analyst with Nomura Securities in London.
Another good news for Porsche is that the European Union’s highest court last Tuesday is nearing decision to finally abolish the law that protects VW from any possible takeovers. This very same ruling if realized will serve as an opportunity for Porsche to finally gain control of Europe’s largest automaker. The news on the possible eradication of the Volkswagen law has resulted to an increase of Volkswagen shares by €2.17 or 2.5% and closed at €88.27 which is considered to be the highest since mid-1998.
To protect also the interest of the Lower Saxony at VW they will retain their current two seats at the board while Piech’s position on Volkswagen’s board will be counted as one of the three held by the sports car maker. Piech has been able to get a seat at the 20 member board of Volkswagen since he was a former chief executive of the company.
Piech has held the position as Volkswagen’s chief in the year 1993. He was responsible for saving Europe’s largest automaker from bankruptcy through reduction of labor expenses and by introducing common platforms for the model lines to further save costs. Unfortunately, investments in the VW’s luxury models like Phaeton, Bugatti, and Lamborghini have not helped increased the automaker’s profit and even resulted in a 39% decline in VW’s stock. Piech has served as VW’s chief executive for four years until April 2002.
And as VW chairman of the board, Piech has helped in building an alliance between Porsche and Volkswagen. He has worked for Volkswagen for 30 years wherein he held the chief executive position for nine years and has become the chairman of the board of VW since 2002. He is also occupies a seat on the supervisory board of Porsche.
Volkswagen is Porsche’s largest supplier of automobiles and parts like the Volkswagen power steering pump. The two companies are partners in building the Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7 sport utility vehicles and Volkswagen Touareg at the VW’s plant in Slovakia.
Growing up with three brothers, Natalie Anderson became exposed early to the world of automobiles. This 29-year-old account manager now dreams of having her very own top-of-the-line vintage car.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Piech to Remain as Vw’s Board Chairman