According to a Reuters report, citing Volkswagen internal sources, the supervisory board members have already gave the thumbs up to Winterkorn to remain in his current position until 2016, meaning another five years of term for the CEO. The news has not yet been confirmed by Volkswagen. The current contract of the CEO expires in 2011.
Winterkorn was the man who sailed VW through the rough waters of Porsche's push to take over back in 2009. He managed to overturn the deal and, once that was out of the way, set his sights on another victim: Toyota.
The German manufacturer plans to become the number 1 carmaker in the world by 2018 and is already engaged in a spending frenzy to achieve that goal. Last week, VW announced it will spend no less than EUR51.6 billion for its Automotive Division over the next five years.
“These investments underline Volkswagen’s goal of becoming the leading automobile manufacturer for its customers, employees and shareholders, because our investments are aimed precisely at these three groups,” said Bernd Osterloh, VW’s Group Works Council, when the investment was announced.
“New, attractive and high-quality models for our customers as well as investments in our locations safeguard our colleagues’ jobs. Our shareholders also profit from this, not least because at Volkswagen we all agree that every investment must pay off.”
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