VW integrating MAN and Scania
Volkswagen is creating Truck & Bus GmbH, the new Volkswagen Group holding for the MAN and Scania commercial vehicle brands. The shares in Scania AB held by Volkswagen AG will be transferred to Truck & Bus GmbH. The wholly owned Volkswagen subsidiary already holds 75.28% of the voting rights in MAN SE.
Truck & Bus GmbH will establish processes specific to the commercial vehicles business, helping leverage the full synergy potential between the brands. The company will be led by Andreas Renschler, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. The Supervisory Board, composed on a parity basis, will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.
Andreas Renschler said, ‘Our goal is to take the commercial vehicles holding to the top of our industry in terms of profitability, technologies and, above all, customer satisfaction. Bringing together our commercial vehicle brands under one roof means we can focus more strongly on the needs of the truck and bus business and can therefore accelerate the decision-making process. In so doing, the MAN and Scania brands retain their independence, in line with Volkswagen’s basic principle.’
Truck & Bus GmbH will steer and coordinate cooperation among the three commercial vehicle companies MAN Truck & Bus AG, MAN Latin America and Scania AB. The CEOs of these three companies will be represented in the management of Truck & Bus GmbH. The aim is to coordinate strategy, development, human resources, purchasing and other issues across the brands. This is in an effort to achieve closer networking, shorter decision making paths and swifter implementation.
The Chairman of the Group Works Council at Volkswagen, Bernd Osterloh, who will become a member of the supervisory board of Truck & Bus GmbH, said, ‘Together with our colleagues from MAN and Scania we supported the creation of such a holding. We need clear structures in the Group in order to act swiftly and flexibly in the various business areas. At the same time, the holding strengthens employees’ participation rights. For the first time in a supervisory board, employee representatives from MAN, Scania and Volkswagen will discuss the right strategies for our integrated commercial vehicles group together with the shareholders.’