Capital-market-law publications | audi.com (2024)

Ingolstadt/Neckarsulm, November 26, 2019 – A new era is dawning. Audi is taking sustained action for greater economy, flexibility and secure jobs. The Board of Management and employee representatives have reached a fundamental agreement within the framework of Audi.Zukunft. The decisions relate in particular to the optimization of production capacities at the two German plants and socially responsible workforce adjustments while extending job guarantee up to the end of 2029. The 6 billion euros thus generated will secure the strategic targeted return corridor of 9 to 11 percent and will flow into future projects such as electrification and digitalization. In this way, Audi.Zukunft will sustainably strengthen the competitiveness of the Four Rings and will make the company fit for the coming years. The agreement takes effect on November 29, 2019 and applies for the next ten years.

Audi is consistently making decisions that further secure the company’s future viability. “With the Audi Transformation Plan, we have already anchored a successful program of measures. And with Audi.Zukunft, we are now also tackling structural issues in order to prepare Audi for the challenges ahead,” says Audi CEO Bram Schot. In the context of the transformation of the automotive industry towards electric mobility and digitalization, the company and the Works Council have agreed on important new plans. “Both sides have proven that the focus is on responsibility for the future of the Four Rings and its employees,” says Schot. “Audi.Zukunft secures our sustainable growth. In times of upheaval, we are making Audi more agile and more efficient. This will increase productivity and sustainably strengthen the competitiveness of our German plants.”

Employment guarantee until 2029
The company is extending the employment guarantee for its workforce up to the end of 2029. Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works Council of AUDI AG: “We have reached an important milestone: The jobs of our core workforce are secure! The extension of the employment guarantee is a great success in difficult times. In addition, the upcoming electrification of the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants underscores the long-term success of both German sites.”

“Our employees are Audi’s most valuable asset and the key to our successful change,” emphasizes Wendelin Göbel, Board of Management Member for Human Resources. For this reason, Audi is excluding terminations for operational reasons until December 31, 2029. The company must become lean and fit for the future, which means that some job profiles will no longer be needed and new ones will be created. That is why Audi is investing systematically in future-oriented qualification measures for the employees and thus in the future of the two sites in Germany. At the same time, the Works Council and the company’s management have agreed to cut up to 9,500 jobs until 2025. This will take place along the demographic curve – in particular through employee turnover and a new, attractive early-retirement program. An equivalent percentage staff reduction will take place in management. Nonetheless, Audi will continue to recruit in the coming years. The company plans to create up to 2,000 new expert positions in areas such as electric mobility and digitalization. Those appointments will be made on the principle of internal before external candidates.

Audi is aware of its social and societal responsibility. The company will continue to train young people in key areas of the future. The number of apprentices and student trainees at the two German sites will remain at a consistently high level over the next three years.

Production capacities, allocation of models to plants and electrification
A key component of the agreement is to allow the economic and future-proof utilization of production capacities. Annual plant capacity will therefore be planned in Ingolstadt for 450,000 vehicles and in Neckarsulm for 225,000 vehicles, with production-optimized operation. A long-term future perspective is guaranteed by the electric models to be built at both plants in the future.

The Ingolstadt site is currently preparing for the production of premium electric vehicles. In Neckarsulm, the all-electric Audi e-tron GT will already drive off the assembly line as of 2020. The other production lines will also be gradually equipped for electric mobility. Rolf Klotz, Chairman of the Neckarsulm Works Council: “We see it as the management’s duty to keep their promises. With long-term electrification, Audi.Zukunft is now creating facts. We are thus securing the future viability of the Neckarsulm plant.” An “Electrification Neckarsulm” fund is being set up specifically for this purpose. By 2025, a total of 300 million euros will flow into this fund to secure the necessary construction measures for the production of electric vehicles in Neckarsulm.

Audi profit-sharing and increased retirement provisions
Audi employees will continue to benefit from the company’s success in the future. If Audi can build on the financial results of previous years, average profit participation will remain at the high level of those years. If the Audi Group’s operating profit is significantly higher than in previous years, negotiations will be held on the appropriation of the increment. In addition, the company will improve its company pension plan from 2021 onwards and will recognize additional pension provisions of up to 50 million euros annually for this purpose.
 

Consistently profitable
Audi’s future financial success is based on two pillars. The Audi Transformation Plan was successfully launched two years ago and is expected to free up approximately 15 billion euros for future projects up to 2022. Concrete measures have already been identified for 80 percent of the program. With Audi.Zukunft, the company is now also addressing structural issues. These initiatives will result in an accumulated earnings effect of around 6 billion euros until 2029. “The decisions taken together with the employees are an important and courageous step for the long-term competitiveness and profitability of the Four Rings,” states Schot.

Ingolstadt, November 20, 2019 – Three new members, Arno Antlitz, Dirk Grosse-Loheide and Sabine Maassen, will join the Board of Management of AUDI AG in 2020. Arno Antlitz will become the new Chief Financial Officer of AUDI AG on March 1, hereby exchanging his area of responsibility with the current Audi CFO Alexander Seitz, who will become CFO at Volkswagen Cars. Dirk Grosse-Loheide will be the new Audi Board of Management Member for Procurement and IT as of April 1; he succeeds Bernd Martens. The new team is to be completed with Sabine Maassen, currently CHRO of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, who will take over Board of Management responsibility for Human Resources at AUDI AG from Wendelin Göbel on April 1.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AUDI AG, Herbert Diess, stated on the changes in the Board of Management: “Audi is realigning itself for the future. To this end, the first key measures have been initiated by the Audi Board of Management under Bram Schot. It is now important for the new CEO, Markus Duesmann, and his future team to make Vorsprung durch Technik an unmistakable maxim for action at Audi. This must be the mission of the Audi management. I thank Bram Schot and his colleagues for their good work.”

Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works Council and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AUDI AG: “Following the decision to appoint Markus Duesmann as the new Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi, further decisions have been made today for the future of the company's leadership. We welcome the new Board of Management members Dirk Grosse-Loheide and Arno Antlitz, as well as Sabine Maassen, who will be of particular importance to the workforce in her function as Board of Management Member for Human Resources and Labor Relations Director. We look forward to positive and successful cooperation in the interests of the employees and the company, and we would like to thank the departing members of the Board of Management.”

Dirk Grosse-Loheide (55) is responsible for procurement at the Volkswagen brand. A graduate in economics, he has worked at the Volkswagen Group for the past 28 years. He has exceptional knowledge of the industry and great procurement experience. Grosse-Loheide will take over Board of Management responsibility for Procurement and IT on April 1 from Bernd Martens (53), who introduced the mandatory sustainability rating for suppliers at Audi, the first car brand to do so. In this way, the premium brand makes sure that environmental, social and governance criteria are applied also in the upstream value chain. This sustainability rating is to become an industry standard.

Arno Antlitz (49) has played a major role at Volkswagen Cars in the development and implementation of the future pact and the turnaround plans in the regions. This has created the financial strength required for the Volkswagen brand to systematically initiate its electric strategy. After two and a half years in Ingolstadt, Alexander Seitz (57), the current Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Finance, China and Legal Affairs, will take over the position of his successor Arno Antlitz in Wolfsburg on March 1, 2020. With the Audi Transformation Plan (ATP), he has created the right conditions and financial basis to strategically realign the company and secure its future. The ATP has a volume of 15 billion euros and is designed to improve earnings on a sustainable basis.

Sabine Maassen (53) has been at Thyssenkrupp since 2016 and has been Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) there with responsibility for the Steel Europe business area since 2018. Previously, the doctor of law and trade unionist of many years’ standing was legal counsel on the board of the IG Metall trade union. As an employee representative, she has already held several supervisory board positions in the automotive industry, in which she has developed a deep understanding of the sector. Maassen will take over Board of Management responsibility for Human Resources from Wendelin Göbel (56) on April 1. Göbel joined Audi in 1987 and has worked for the Volkswagen Group in various positions for more than three decades, since 2017 as Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization. In the past two and a half years, Göbel has made the human resources division of the Four Rings fit for the future and has initiated decisive steps for the transformation of the company.

Ingolstadt, November 15, 2019 – Markus Duesmann will become the new CEO of Audi on April 1, 2020. The 50-year-old mechanical engineer will succeed Bram Schot, who has held the position since June 2018. Duesmann has been active in the automotive industry for almost three decades, most recently as Board of Management Member for Purchasing at BMW. Bram Schot, 58, will leave the Group at the end of March by best mutual agreement.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AUDI AG, Herbert Diess, commented on the change of CEO: “As an excellent engineer, Markus Duesmann will do everything in his power to leverage the great potential of the Audi brand and will once again demonstrate the promise of Vorsprung durch Technik”. At the same time, Herbert Diess thanked the current Chairman of the Board of Management, Bram Schot: “He took over the management of AUDI AG at a difficult time, very successfully managed the business and initiated important changes. We expressly thank him for that.” Among the most important cornerstones of the new Audi strategy are the accelerated transformation into a provider of sustainable mobility and the determined decarbonization of the company.

The Chairman of the General Works Council of AUDI AG and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Peter Mosch: “We expect Markus Duesmann and his management team to ensure stable capacity utilization at the plants and to promote more courage to take the lead through technology. We look forward to positive cooperation in the interests of the employees and the company.” Mosch commented on Bram Schot: “The right man at Audi at the right time. He started a cultural transformation towards fewer hierarchies, a clear value system and more openness. In mid-2018, Schot assumed responsibility for the company in a very difficult situation.”

Ingolstadt, January 8, 2019 – Hildegard Wortmann will be in charge of the Sales and Marketing division of AUDI AG latest as of July 1, 2019. She will succeed Bram Schot, who took over as the company’s Chairman of the Board of Management at the beginning of this year. Wortmann has many years of international experience in product management, marketing and brand communication.

“Hildegard Wortmann has more than 20 years of international experience in the sales and marketing of premium automobiles. This makes her the ideal executive to shape the Audi brand innovatively and to refocus one of the company’s largest divisions,” stated Audi’s Supervisory Board Chairman and VW CEO, Herbert Diess, on the appointment.

The Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, Bram Schot: “Audi is undergoing significant changes, and we are now taking the next step. With Hildegard Wortmann on the Board of Management and together with the workforce, we are succeeding in transforming ourselves. On this challenging path to the future, she will play a decisive role,” stated Schot.

Deputy Chairman of the Audi Supervisory Board and Chairman of the General Works Council Peter Mosch said: “We expressly welcome Hildegard Wortmann’s appointment to the Audi Board of Management and expect her to bring a breath of fresh air to sharpen our brand sustainably and shape the Audi future together with us.”

Wortmann started her career at Unilever in 1990, passing through various positions including product and brands manager and later marketing director. She gained international experience in London and New York while working for Unilever. Starting in 1998, she held various positions at the BMW Group. She was involved in the relaunch of the MINI brand and was in chargeof predevelopment marketing and innovation projects. She then concentrated on high-level positions in product management for automobiles and after sales. Hildegard Wortmann played a key role in setting the course for e-mobility with the development of the BMW i electric brand. In June 2016, she became senior vice-president for the BMW brand. Since January 2018, she has been responsible for the Asia-Pacific sales region, based in Singapore.