Reports: Piech Blocked Winterkorn’s Appointment to VW Chairmanship

Ferdinand Piech, who was removed as chairman of Volkswagen Group in April, blocked CEO Martin Winterkorn as his successor, according to media reports in Germany.

Piech had been Winterkorn's mentor before declaring in April he had "distanced" himself from Winterkorn as his successor. Piech lost a resulting power struggle with the VW board and stepped down after more than 20 years of successful but dictatorial rule over the company.

The Porsche and Piech families, which control VW through the Porsche SE holding company, had agreed to propose Winterkorn for the chairmanship, according to Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. But last week VW's supervisory board instead chose Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch for the job.

The board also extended Winterkorn's CEO contract through 2018, as it said in April it would do. Porsche SE and VW have declined comment on the media reports beyond underscoring their united support for Winterkorn as CEO and Poetsch as chairman.