A troubled year is coming to an end at Volkswagen. Golf 8 (test) and ID.3 (test) got off to a difficult start, with the software Volkswagen showed how it shouldn’t be done. These problems are of course not unknown in the company’s management. They were the subject of a crisis meeting on Tuesday evening.

At the online event with managers, Diess went into more detail on considerations for a core role of software and IT the corporate management. “We believe that we have to strengthen ourselves in IT with our own board department, in the medium term,” he said, according to information from the participants.

More self-developed software Basically, this requirement has been around for a long time. VW is currently expanding its internal “software organization”. The main goal is to increase the proportion of self-developed systems for cars and systems. The first head of the division, Christian Senger, was replaced by Audi boss Markus Duesmann in the summer shortly after the start of the unit.

Senger is now in charge of the development of autonomous driving, which is docked with the VW commercial vehicles in Hanover. Among other things, Audi is responsible for the “Artemis” project within the Group, in which a new wiring system is being developed for vehicles of the Volkswagen Group.

E-car at the Wolfsburg headquarters In addition, Volkswagen is aiming to develop and produce its own electric model for the Wolfsburg headquarters much earlier than initially planned. The central “e-volume model”, which is largely independent of the starting ID model series, could be located in the Group’s main plant from around 2025.

Like the Audi, Porsche and Bentley brands, VW wants to bring together expertise with its luxury-class model in Hanover. The works council also considers the plans to be an important project for the home locations. The car should already be based on the successor kit of the current MEB system and could have a quantity of at least 300. 000 per year, it was said from company circles.

Disputes The group had already indicated the project on Monday evening after the most recent special meeting of the supervisory board. In response to pressure from CEO Herbert Diess, the inspectors spoke about top personalities. But it was also about further investments, the advice of which works council chief Bernd Osterloh was obviously able to prevail.

Originally, the e-model for Wolfsburg was not supposed to be an issue until next autumn. The move forward is seen as a concession to the workforce representatives, which have long been demanding more models for the headquarters. In the previous plans for a medium-term complete conversion in the direction of e-mobility, such as in Zwickau, Emden or Hanover, this was still empty.

( mfz)