What's the news?
The ongoing power struggle in the Volkswagen Group Board continues to rumble on as the plot deepens. Last week Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piech, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Volkswagen Group made comments in relation to Volkswagen Group CEO, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn saying: "There is a distance between me and Winterkorn", implying that his time at the top of the Volkswagen Group may be over sooner than his contacted tenure, which is due to run for one more year.
In a bid to calm the situation, the Executive Committee of the Supervisory Board of the Volkswagen Group has released a statement of support for Winterkorn. The brief statement said that the Executive Committee will now propose to the Supervisory Board to extend Prof. Dr. Winterkorn's existing contract.
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Piech had previously considered long-term friend Winterkorn a worthy successor to him at the top of the Volkswagen Group, which he was expected to stand down from in 2017. This defiant move by the Board, which is made up of the Volkswagen Group's major stakeholders including the prime minister of Lower Saxony, Qatar Holdings and the worker's union.