Piech, Porsche Families Affirm Support for VW Management

The Piech and Porsche families, which control Volkswagen AG, pledge support for VW’s senior managers and vow not to interfere with the company’s daily operational decisions, Der Spiegel reports.

Hans Michel Piech and Wolfgang Porsche, who represent the families, tell the German magazine they have declared their support for VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch and CEO Matthias Mueller.

Last year the families bickered over how VW should cut costs, streamline its operations and deal with such trends as "green" powertrains, vehicle connectivity and autonomous-driving technologies in the midst of its multi-billion-euro diesel emission cheating scandal. Now Piech and Porsche tell Der Spiegel they will strive for consensus in spite of differences in how they perceive their familial responsibilities.

The two men underscore the commitment in spite of a decision earlier this year to increase to 34 the number of family members with VW voting power. Wolfgang Porsche says the increase is intended to foster interest in the company by the next-generation members of the two families, and not to load VW’s supervisory board with more family representatives.