VW's Bernhard Poised to Move On, WSJ Says

Washington DC January 2, 2006; The AIADA newsletter reported that once famed turnaround specialist, Volkswagen's brand Chief Wolfgang Bernhard, is poised to leave the automaker over a planned management shake-up, a Wall Street Journal news report said Friday.

The Journal quoted people familiar with the matter as saying Volkswagen's supervisory board would meet in January to approve a reorganization of the company's management board, which oversees its daily operations.

The board, it has been reported, offered Bernhard a new company-wide role as overseer of production, but that offer was refused by Bernhard. "It's fairly clear he won't stay," the Journal quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying. "He's said 'if my job changed, I've got to leave.'"

VW has not commented on any reports of a shakeup. In early December, VW said Bernhard would not be pressured into leaving the firm by speculation that he may fall victim to a management shakeup.