Volkswagen to name Bentley production chief as new Cariad head – sources

By Jan Schwartz

(Reuters) -Volkswagen will announce later on Monday the removal of the current leadership at its software unit Cariad, to be taken over by Bentley production chief Peter Bosch, two sources close to the company said on Monday.

Volkswagen is preparing an official statement for the afternoon with details of how the software unit, maligned by mismanagement and missed deadlines, will be reshuffled, the sources said, declining to be named.

The carmaker is set to dismiss all but one of the executive board members at the software unit, with only human resources head Rainer Zugehoer to remain.

Bosch will also take over financial management at Cariad, and Thomas Guenther, currently a senior vice president at the sofwtare unit, will join the board in a technology role, they added.

The sweeping changes come as Volkswagen Chief Executive Oliver Blume undergoes a strategic review of every facet of the carmaker after taking over from former leader Herbert Diess last September.

Sources said at the time that Diess’ failure to put Cariad on a robust track contributed to his ousting.

Blume is not planning to shift gears completely at the unit with the new leadership, sources told Reuters on Monday – but he does intend to place greater emphasis on partnerships to get the carmaker’s software plans underway, rather than going at it alone.

“We will certainly make some changes, but this is not a 180-degree turn,” one source said.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz, Writing by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Miranda Murray)