HAMBURG (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s supervisory board agreed on Tuesday evening to remove two seats from the carmaker’s 12-person management board, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, adding the decision was not yet finalised.
The news comes a day ahead of a planned leadership change at Europe’s largest carmaker that will see Porsche AG Chief Executive Oliver Blume also taking over as Volkswagen CEO from Herbert Diess.
The move signals a sharper focus under Blume’s leadership following Diess’ turbulent four-year tenure that saw the board swell to its current level.
Overall, the reshuffle would reduce the total number of seats on the management board to nine from 12 and remove the positions in charge of procurement and sales, one of the people said.
Volkswagen’s supervisory board discussed the move in a meeting on Tuesday evening but must still confirm a final decision in writing, the sources said.
Volkswagen declined to comment.
(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Miranda Murray)
