WOLFSBURG, Germany – Matthias Müller appears set to step down as CEO of the Volkswagen Group at a supervisory board meeting planned to take place Friday, April 13, in a move the automaker describes as “an evolution of the leadership structure.”
Although it is remaining tight-lipped on details of its plans, VW is expected to announce Müller, who was made CEO after the Dieselgate scandal was made public in September 2015, will be succeeded by Volkswagen passenger-car brand CEO Herbert Diess.
Adhering to German financial-market regulatory guidelines, Volkswagen issued an official statement Tuesday confirming it is “considering management changes” that would be “associated with personnel changes in the board of management.”
In the press release, Volkswagen Group referred directly to its CEO, saying, “Matthias Müller showed his general willingness to contribute to the changes.”
A spokesman tells WardsAuto a Volkswagen Group supervisory board meeting is to take place April 13, though he could not confirm reports that Müller, who also serves on the supervisory board of VW’s Porsche subsidiary, is to be replaced by Diess.
Sources close to VW suggest Müller’s possible departure has been engineered as part of a boardroom coup engineered by Hans Michel Piëch, Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Dieter Pötsch.
Piëch and Porsche are VW board member representatives from the families which together control more than 52% of Volkswagen Group shares. Pötsch is chairman of the VW supervisory board.
The 64-year-old Müller, whose contract is in effect until 2020, has led the Volkswagen Group through arguably its toughest period yet as it faced a series of governmental and regulatory inquiries as well as recalls and buyback schemes relating to the Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal.
Müller inherited the CEO post at Volkswagen Group from Martin Winterkorn, who resigned shortly after news of the Dieselgate scandal broke. At the time, Müller was CEO of Porsche.
