Piech, Winterkorn to Discuss VW Management Crisis

Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech and CEO Martin Winterkorn will meet later this week to discuss the company's succession plan after Piech abruptly voiced a lack of confidence in the CEO, according to Handelsblatt.

Piech, no stranger to fomenting management drama, sparked the crisis last Friday by telling Der Spiegel he was distancing himself from Winterkorn for unspecified reasons. As Piech's prot g , Winterkorn had been widely expected to become chairman in 2017 when Piech, currently 77, retires.

Now pundits are speculating the furor may result in Winterkorn exiting the company in spite of strong support from the VW supervisory board. If so, some predict Matthias Mueller, CEO of the group's Porsche unit, will succeed Winterkorn as group CEO.