The company announced Friday that Herbert Diess will leave the top job at Volkswagen (VLKAF) AG, the world’s second-largest automaker. Volkswagen did not give a reason for the departure of Diess, who will be replaced by Oliver Blume, the head of VW’s Porsche performance car division. It was a busy and challenging tenure for Diess. He took the reins at Volkswagen in 2018, in the wake of its “dieselgate” scandal that forced the company to pay massive fines in the US and Europe for misleading emissions readings. Still, Diess was able to put this scandal mostly in the rearview mirror. And it focused on electric vehicles more than many established automakers, positioning Volkswagen for a major shift.
As part of the management reform, CFO Arno Antlitz will become COO.
—This is a developing story.