Reversal at the top of Volkswagen where the chairman of the supervisory board and patriarch of the German car manufacturer, Ferdinand Piech, lost his internal battle and resigned from all positions with immediate effect. Together with him, his wife Ursula, who held a top position, also resigned.
The board will be temporarily headed by Vice President Berthold Huber.
Piech's resignation is a sensational twist but not a bolt from the blue. Piech leaves because he has lost the internal battle with the other branch of the family which, together with Piech, controls 53% of Volkswagen's capital.
President and patriarch of the German car manufacturer, Piech - in a sensational interview with the weekly "Der Spiegel" - had opened fire two weeks ago against the CEO of the group Martin Winterkorn, accusing him for the mediocre results achieved above all on the American market and for the delay in the launch of a long-awaited low-cost car.
Against CEO Piech had been implacable and had thundered: "Winterkorn will never be my successor and will never become president of Volkswagen" despite the tradition of the house foresaw that the CEO would become president. But a part of the family that together with Piech controls Volkswagen didn't think like the outgoing president and put him in the minority pushing him to resign immediately.
Stormy times are ahead for the German company.
