With Matthias Müller stepping up to take over the a new role as the new chief executive of Volkswagen Group, the Porsche division is going to need a new CEO of its own. Taking Müller’s place will be Dr. Oliver Blume, who assumes his new responsibilities on October 1, 2015.
Blume is no stranger to the higher ranks at Porsche. Since the beginning of 2013, Blume has been a member of the Porsche Executive Board responsible for Production and Logistics. Another new appointee is Detlev von Platen who will be a member of the Porsche Executive Board for Sales and Marketing. Von Platen comes to Zuffenhausen from the USA where he was Head of Porsche Cars North America for just over 7 years. The new Head of Sales will assume his new post on November 1, 2015. On the same date, his predecessor, Bernhard Maier, will be reassigned from Zuffenhausen to Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic where he will assume the position of Chairman of the Board of Management of Škoda.
The Supervisory Board appointed the Executive Board Member for Finance, Lutz Meschke, as the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board. The previous Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board was Thomas Edig, who is leaving the company at the end of September to take a position as Board Member for Human Resources at the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand.
The appointments come amidst a giant game of musical chairs within the Volkswagen Group. Aside from the ousting of former supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch 5 months ago, the dieselgate scandal has seen the German automaker cleaning house within its top ranks and R&D staff. Most notable was the recent resignation of Martin Winterkorn, whose position at the head of the group’s management board Müller will now assume.
