Herbert Diess: when the automotive industry can be profitable

Herbert Diss (Eng. Herbert Diess) is a worthy successor to the retired head Volkswagen Group permanent Ferdinand Piech. Piech, now 81, is the owner of a collection of super-exclusive cars, despite his long tenure at VAG, he turned down a mentorship as a result of a conflict over his politics. Nevertheless, the new leader managed to ensure stable profits and steady development for the company.

Herbert Diess is one of the few VAG executives who was not related to the Porsche and Piech family, the heirs of design engineer Ferdinand Porsche, the main owner Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG. Such outstanding successes are an important commentary on his personality. A personal resume on the VW website can be found on this page: Herbert Diess.

Career

Herbert Diess has a fairly extensive set of positions at Volkswagen AG, first of all, experts note his work in Audi AG, Ingolstadt, since May 7, 2018. Diess has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand since September 28, 2015, and a member of the Management Board of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft since July 01, 2015. Until September 28, 2015, he served as Chairman of the Volkswagen Board of Directors for Brands at Volkswagen AG.

Herbert Diess moved to VAG from BMW, Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaftwhere he worked from 2007 to 2014. At the same time, he already had experience of cooperation with VAG in the past and was a member of the Supervisory Board at Porsche Holding GmbH from 1984 to 1989. A little earlier, he also worked on automation at the Technical University of Munich, subsequently receiving a doctorate in mechanical engineering, and before that he graduated from this university with an engineering degree, having studied from 1978 to 1983. On his account, this was the second education, the first he received at the University of Applied Sciences Munich from 1977 to 1978.

In addition to the main duties of the head of VAG today, Dr. Herbert Diess is:

• Chairman of the Supervisory Board at SEAT SA, Martorell, Spain since 2018;
• Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Skoda Auto as, Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, since May 14, 2018;
• holds this position at Porsche Austria GmbH and Porsche Retail GmbH, Salzburg, Austria.

Achievements

At VAG, Dr. Herbert Diess has strengthened the company's work on EV vehicles since his arrival, drawing on his experience at BMW and the successful creation of such vehicles. The second emphasis, inherent in his management of the company, is tracking financial performance, including maintaining leadership positions in the ranking of manufacturers.

Recently, he has been accused of incorrect phrases. He has one major dieselgate scandal associated with the deliberate violation of environmental standards, and losses due to the recall of large batches of cars. However, such events take place in the work of all automotive companies, and VAG still retain their primacy.

The latest scandal, which was related to the events that took place at the internal meeting, perfectly characterizes Diess, however, not in the context that appeared in the media. Diess said brands with higher margins have more leeway than others, commenting on the statement as "EBIT macht frei" in terms of financial EBIT. At the same time, he was accused of using the Nazi slogan "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work sets you free").

Diss had to apologize for this coincidence, but his tough policy of maintaining liquidity of assets deserves universal respect, for which in 2018 he received the award as the best CEO in the world according to CEOWORLD magazine in 2018. It is worth noting that many automotive companies have facts in their history of mutually beneficial work with the Third Reich, this is part of the story. At the same time, before that, any expressions of the VAG leadership did not become public media.

It can be assumed that, despite excellent financial performance, Herbert Diess may lose his position or show an ultra-ordinary result based on his experience in German engineering.