Meet Porsche’s New Chairman

Earlier today the Supervisory Board of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG appointed Dr. Oliver Blume (47) as new Chairman of the Porsche AG Executive Board (replacing Matthias Müller who was moved up into the role of VW’s CEO in the wake of the ever growing “dieselgate” scandal). In his past role Dr. Blume was responsible for Production and Logistics. His new role as Chairman becomes effective as of October 1, 2015.

Blume takes over in Zuffenhausen during an exciting time as Porsche has plans to invest over 1.1 billion euros in its current production sites over the next five years. For instance, a new engine plant and a new body manufacturing plant will be built at the company’s main business site. The assembly line in Zuffenhausen will also be extended. In the future, not only will all 911 and Boxster cars come off the assembly line here, as well as Cayman models starting in summer 2016. As the board member for Production and Logistics, Blume himself oversaw the extensive preliminary groundwork for this and also the setup of the shop for handcrafting the 918 Spyder and further expansion of the Leipzig plant for the Macan and full production of the Panamera.

Given the reasons above, and others, Dr. Wolfgang Porsche has expressed his confidence that “we have found the best possible successor for Matthias Müller considering his exceptionally high professional competence and pronounced teamwork skills.” In upcoming weeks, a decision will be made on the successor to Blume as the Board Member responsible for Production.

Porsche Cars North America Now Needs A New CEO!

In the same release announcing Blume’s succession to CEO of Porsche AG, PCNA’s leader, Detlev von Platen, was named the newest member of the Porsche Excutive Board for Sales and Marketing, (he succeeds Bernhard Maier who takes on a new role as Chairman of the Skoda Board of Management). His new post in Germany doesn’t start until November 1st, giving the company plenty of time to name a successor.

Lots and lots of management moves taking place. PCNA is still Porsche’s largest single market so Detlev’s successor will be as closely picked as Müeller’s. Joe Lawrence, current PCNA EVP and COO, was brought on in 2013 after serving as President and CEO of Porsche Cars Canada. It’s possible he was being groomed for the role. However, with sales and marketing being such and important facet, it’s possible that Andre Oosthuizen could be a candidate, too. At this point it’s all just speculation as Porsche has been known to surprise time and time again. We’ll let you know more as we hear it.