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Porsche Has a New CEO: Oliver Blume Leads the Company after 20 Years within the VW Group

Now that Matthias Muller has left his CEO bucket seat at Porsche to steer-save Volkswagen as their new CEO, Zuffenhausen welcomes its new helm man. The new Porsche CEO comes in the person of Oliver Blume.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume 1 photo
Photo: Porsche
The company is betting on Blume’s full bloom attitude. We are referring to a melange here: aged 47, the executive has spent around half of his life serving the Volkswagen Group. Blume became the head of Production and Logistics for Porsche in 2013, overseeing the building of the workshop that brought the hand-built 918 Spyder to life. He also led the expansion of Porsche’s Leipzig site, but we’ll get back to that in a minute.

With Porsche having practically doubled itself during Muller’s five-year reign, the company took the time to thank their departing CEO for his work. Think about it, Muller covered all aspects of the sales spectrum, from the Macan sales hit to the extra 918 Spyder, while Porsche’s one-two finish at Le Mans after having gotten back in the saddle in 2014.

Still, Blume has his own challenges to take on. Now that Porsche is going (almost) full turbo, the 911 is preparing for a whole new chapter in its life - the hybrid adventure. And let’s not forget the Mission E should deliver its genes to a production model in the future.

Shuffling executives

As it often happens, the appointment is included in a larger executive shuffling plan. For instance, Detlev von Platen, who has been CEO of Porsche North America for the past seven years, is now moving to Zuffenhausen to lead Porsche’s sales and marketing offensive.

Profound business matters aside, Von Platen has gone through business moments as diverse as the recent loss of Pedro Mota, a VP who went to Rolls-Royce and MINI USA’s trolling racing challenge from a few years ago. He is replacing Bernhard Maier, who is flying over to the Czech Republic to become Skoda’s new CEO.

In addition, VW Group’s Executive Board Member for Finance, Lutz Meschke (49), has become the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board.

Sure, VW CEO may have stepped down, and the Group’s top R&D people also seem to be working on quick sand after the Dieselgate scandal. But we’ll remind you that after Ferdinand Piech and his wife Ursula left the supervisory board earlier this year, their places were taken by two of their nephews. So while matters do change within the VW Group, things aren’t always what they seem.

We’ll also remind you that, on a scene behind all these management changes, Porsche Holding has just bought more VW shares.

Production plans

As we said, a part of Oliver Blume’s tasks at Porsche was to oversee a strengthening in production capacity. The company has now announced EUR1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) investments in its manufacturing sites over the next four years.

For instance, a new engine plant and a new body manufacturing plant will be built at the company's main business site. The assembly line in Zuffenhausen will also be extended. In the future, not only will all 911 and Boxster cars come off the assembly line here, but also Cayman models starting in summer 2016,” a Porsche statement reads.

Guess we’ll have a new face announcing the four-cylinder turbocharged Boxster and Cayman next year...
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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