VW Strategy Would Curb Audi’s Role as Development Hub

Volkswagen AG will consider a 10-year business strategy that call for more collaboration with rival carmakers and less reliance on the group’s Audi brand for product development leadership.

Sources tell Reuters that CEO Herbert Diess will present the proposal to the group’s supervisory board on Nov. 16.

Audi has been the VW Group’s research and development leader for years. But the division has lost key senior executives in the wake of the group’s diesel emission cheating scandal. Reuters says the resulting leadership vacuum makes the unit less capable of leading the company through the challenges of keeping up on electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving technologies.

VW is already signaling its shift in philosophy. Last week alone it acknowledged wide-ranging talks with Ford Motor Co. about collaboration and vehicle platform sharing. The company also signed with Baidu Inc. to use the Chinese internet search engine giant’s Apollo software platform to speed development of self-driving vehicles, and