Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn will explain today how he plans to return the U.S. unit to profit as it heads for an eighth annual loss. He’ll do so without a leader to oversee the turnaround.
The CEO hasn’t named a permanent successor to U.S. chief Stefan Jacoby almost a month after the VW veteran of 25 years stepped down. Jacoby’s exit coincides with the final phase of introducing a new Jetta compact, VW’s best-selling American model, and as VW prepares to open a factory in Tennessee and present the first car built for the U.S. market.
Winterkorn, who will discuss VW’s electric-car strategy in California and test drive the Jetta, has pledged to almost triple VW’s share of the second-biggest auto market to 6 percent by 2018 and boost deliveries to 1 million cars, including the Audi luxury unit. U.S. progress will be vital for VW to reach its goal of surpassing Toyota Motor Corp. in sales and profitability, said IHS Global Insight Inc.’s Rebecca Lindland.
“The timing is anything but ideal for VW to lose its leader,” said Lindland, an analyst at the Lexington, Massachusetts-based researcher. “Jacoby’s departure will definitely be disruptive.”
Volkswagen fell as much as 87 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 70.98 euros and was trading down 75 cents to 71.10 euros as of 10:17 a.m. in Frankfurt. The shares have declined 7.1 percent this year, valuing VW at 33.7 billion euros ($43.7 billion).
Localization Push
Winterkorn, 63, is banking on localization of models and giving up the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker’s premium- pricing strategy in the U.S. to compete with small-car leaders Toyota and Honda Motor Co.
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