Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) fired all but one of Cariad’s executive board members and hired Bentley manufacturing head Peter Bosch to manage the problematic software company.
Bosch, two software specialists, and human resources chief Rainer Zugehoer will join Cariad’s board on June 1, the German firm announced on Monday.
Volkswagen confirmed a Handelsblatt claim that Bosch, a former Oliver Wyman consultant who spent nearly seven years with Volkswagen before transferring to Bentley in 2017, will oversee Cariad’s finances. “He is a strategist, an enabler and a team player,” Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said of Bosch.
Sources informed Reuters on Monday that Cariad senior vice president Thomas Guenther will occupy one of the two software posts. Manager Magazin initially reported this. However, Blume said Volkswagen is discussing new positions with outgoing Cariad CEO Dirk Hilgenberg and his staff.
After taking over from Herbert Diess in September, Blume is conducting a comprehensive assessment of every aspect of the manufacturer. Diess founded Cariad but failed to establish it. Blume said Cariad is “stepping up the pace and broadening our approach to partnerships” without offering details.
According to reports, Cariad has been plagued by delays and overspending. A new software platform to enable “Level 4” autonomous driving across the fleet from 2026 has been delayed until the decade’s end.
Automakers are racing to build software-powered features like self-driving and in-car entertainment that provide them with consumer behavior and vehicle performance data. Diess merged Volkswagen’s efforts into Cariad to expedite the development and maintain control over what he felt would be the future of automobile innovation.
On Monday, sources told Reuters that Blume would focus more on partnerships than going it alone to launch the carmaker’s software plans under the new leadership. “We will certainly make some changes, but this is not a 180-degree turn,” one person said.