Volkswagen plans mass firing of software division’s board - report

The Volkswagen Group is reportedly cleaning house at its troubled software division, Cariad.

Reuters reports word from a source the Volkswagen Group will dismiss all but one of the executive board members at the division, potentially leaving only its head of personnel, Rainer Zugehör.

The Cariad division has gone over budget. Last year, it recorded revenue of €796 million (A$1.29bn), but lost €2.06 billion (A$3.35bn) – the largest loss by far of any of the German automaker’s business units.

That was an even worse result than 2021, when it posted revenue of €518 million (A$764 million) but lost €1.32bn (A$2.15bn).

The troubles at Cariad have led to the Volkswagen Group having to delay key products like the Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche Macan EV, as well as the upcoming Volkswagen Trinity.

The Macan EV was set to be launched in 2022 and then 2023, but has now been delayed to 2024.

Cariad was also developing a new structural car software for the Group’s vehicles that would enable Level 4 autonomous driving, with the aim of bringing it to market by 2026. This has reportedly been delayed by 2-3 years.

Volkswagen also delayed its new SSP architecture, which was set to use the new software and replace current architectures like MEB.

The problems at Cariad also reportedly contributed to former VW Group CEO Herbert Diess’ departure. Cariad was founded during his tenure.