- Ralf Brandstaetter joins the Board of Management for China at VW
- Jens Hildebrandt (AHK Beijing) on supply chain law
- Five-year plan for green economy presented
- EU presents defensive mechanism for trade disputes
- Olympics: German parties call for complete boycott
- Hainan Airlines breaks away from HNA Group
- Eckhard Nagel – a physician with ties to Wuhan
The person of the day at China.Table is not the new German chancellor Olaf Scholz, it is Ralf Brandstaetter. In the future, he will be responsible for China on the VW board of management. His task is to turn around business in the world’s largest car market. There, the market leader could lose its dominant position: For example, the company preferred to install urgently needed chips in Germany rather than in the Far East. Such decisions about the allocation of scarce resources are made at the board level. And until now, CEO Diess was also responsible for China. Brandstaetter is now supposed to “relieve” Diess and set proper priorities. Christian Domke Seidel analyzes the story behind the staff carousel at VW’s top level.
The new German government places a stronger emphasis on defending human rights and liberal values than its predecessor. However, the old government left it with an advantage: Germany’s Supply Chain Act. The law is intended to mandate companies to monitor the conditions surrounding their production. What sounds noble in theory is likely to run into difficulties in practice. Who is supposed to identify and assess human rights violations? Amelie Richter talked about this with Jens Hildebrandt from the German Chamber of Commerce in China.
Meanwhile, China is gradually putting more details of its climate concepts on the table. Nico Beckert has now taken a look at the brand-new Five-Year Plan for Green Economy – and couldn’t find any solid, tangible goals for transforming production. Instead, Beijing is relying on relative metrics based on economic growth. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing will happen. In fact, the change in China is probably happening quicker than hoped.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Ralf Brandstaetter will become VW’s new board member for China
Trouble is brewing in Wolfsburg. However, shortly before today’s supervisory board meeting of the Volkswagen Group, the car giant has managed to put out the hottest fires. Ralf Brandstaetter (53), until now head of the core brand VW, will also become a board member of VW China. In doing so, he will relieve group boss Herbert Diess of his duties. The battered chairman of the board will thus keep his post for the moment. However, there is no reason for him to feel safe.
Brandstaetter had only taken over the management of the core Volkswagen brand from Diess in the summer of 2020. In retrospect, one line of Brandstaetter’s presentation at the time is particularly striking: “Dr. Herbert Diess, who had previously been responsible for both functions, will therefore receive greater leeway for his tasks as Group CEO.” Because the Wolfsburg company can now reuse the same line. Brandstaetter’s next promotion once again gives his CEO “more freedom”.
EVs and semiconductors are the biggest concerns
Brandstaetter has to tackle two key challenges as the new China board member. The first is to drive forward electromobility. Volkswagen is lagging behind its own expectations in China. This already cost Stephan Woellenstein his job as head of Volkswagen Group China (VGC). He failed due to bad timing, explained industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer in an interview with China.Table. Volkswagen simply could only offer European cars in China, but needed SUVs and Tesla-like sedans.
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