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Frankfurt - Volkswagen lost another senior manager in the wake of the diesel scandal after Winfried Vahland, who was tapped to restructure the carmaker’s struggling North America operations, quit without warning.
The 25-year VW veteran, who had turned around the German carmaker’s business in China and successfully led the Skoda brand, turned down the job as chief executive for North America less than three weeks before he had agreed to start.
Vahland decided not to take over the new post amid disagreements about the organization of the new region, Skoda said in an emailed statement.
“The post in North America and dealing with the fallout from the scandal would have been tough, but also an opportunity to raise his profile as the next CEO candidate,” said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Commerzbank AG.
The North America job was part of a push by new CEO Matthias Mueller to give regional leaders more power and decision-making ability in the aftermath of VW’s admission to rigging the engines of some 11 million diesel cars worldwide.
Vahland is leaving the Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer at his own request, and his departure isn’t linked to the diesel investigations, Skoda said in the statement.
Vahland, 58, was among the candidates to succeed former VW Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn, who resigned last month amid the fallout from the scandal, but the supervisory board favored Mueller.
VW has also suspended the chief developers for the VW, Audi and Porsche brands, people familiar with the matter have said. Volkswagen spokesperson Eric Felber declined to comment on whether the company still plans to fill the post.
Volkswagen said Tuesday it will reduce annual investment by about €1bn at its namesake car brand as the automaker steps up a cost-cutting push to weather the impact of the diesel-emissions scandal.
The company set aside €6.5bn for repairs and to compensate customers, but has said that won’t be enough. VW faces numerous lawsuits in the US, where it has lost money and struggled to become more than an also-ran despite rapid expansion elsewhere.
