Volkswagen’s boss takes on the unions

FIVE YEARS ago the Porsche and Piëch families, who control just over half of Volkswagen’s voting rights, poached Herbert Diess from BMW, a posh Bavarian carmaker. He was hired to run VW, the biggest by far of the the group’s 12 marques, because of his reputation as a cost-cutter and hard-nosed manager who would not shy away from taking on the unions. Untainted by VW’s “Dieselgate” emissions scandal, he made a good start by improving its poor profit margins. In 2018 he was rewarded with the job of running the entire group.