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CEO Winterkorn Tells VW Staff of Coming Reorganization

HAMBURG, Germany, June 17 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's chief executive told staff on Wednesday of a coming reorganisation of Europe's biggest carmaker in the wake of the departure of its chairman.

"Volkswagen has to make its management structure fit for the future," Martin Winterkorn told around 10,000 employees in a staff gathering at the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg.

VW sources had told Reuters on Monday that the company's corporate structure would be overhauled into a decentralised system with four holding companies in a bid to boost profits.

The carmaker's group sales fell for a second month in May and at a faster pace than in April, highlighting its difficulties in weak emerging markets.

"Big markets like South America, Russia, China and the United States pose big new challenges for the whole industry," Winterkorn said in remarks relayed by VW.

The company's troublespots were laid bare by an April showdown between the then chairman Ferdinand Piech and Winterkorn that led to VW patriarch Piech's surprise exit. (Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes)