The process of reform has been triggered by the announcement that Herbert Diess is to takeover the reigns from outgoing chief executive Matthias Muller. This news has come with initial plans about a company wide restructuring.
Central to the restructuring efforts are plans to reduce complexity across the organisation, especially in changing the way that the 12 different brands within the car company’s portfolio are managed. These brands within the Volkswagen Group include Audi, Porsche, and Bentley. Volkswagen AG world’s largest automaker by sales, selling 10.7 million vehicles in 2017.
The way forwards is to create six need business areas within the company. In addition, in a sign if shifting economic power, there will be a special division dedicated to China. In addition the 12 brands will be compartmentalized into three vehicle groups. These will be structured on the basis of vehicle cost, where the status conscious labels of “value”, “premium” and “super-premium” will be used go differentiate between model price and consumer spending power. There is also a factor in terms of how the cars are engineered; the groupings help with production line scheduling.
In the super premium category will be the top end brands like Porsche and Lamborghini. Due to the historic status of the brand, Bentley is set to retain its is special division. This is likely to the into the Chinese part of future marketing strategies.
There is also a new initiative called Strategy 2025 which bids to have the diesel crisis forgotten and for Volkswagen to be associated with cleaner, greener cars. This includes considerable investment in electric vehicles. VW’s series of “I.D.” concept vehicles are expected to serve as the basis of a series of new production electric cars. Essential to this will be releasing and convincing the consumer that the company’s commitment to the environment is sincere.
