VW's former quality chief quits as CEO pushes overhaul
BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen's former head of group quality control Frank Tuch has left the carmaker as chief executive Matthias Mueller overhauls senior management positions following the emissions test-rigging scandal.
Volkswagen (VW) said on Monday that Tuch quit the company at his own request "to take on new responsibilities elsewhere". He will continue to serve in an advisory capacity, it added.
Tuch was appointed as head of group quality assurance in 2010 by former CEO Martin Winterkorn, who was ousted within a week of the diesel emissions scandal breaking last September. He will be replaced by VW group veteran Hans-Joachim Rothenspieler next week, the company said.
Tuch, who held positions at Daimler and Porsche before joining VW, had been suspended shortly after the manipulations at VW became public, sources told Reuters in October.
VW never commented on Tuch's status and Tuch himself did not respond to repeated attempts by Reuters to contact him.
Rothenspieler, head of technical development at VW's commercial vehicles division, has been with the group for about 30 years. He will be replaced by Harald Ludanek, development chief at Swedish truck maker Scania, VW said.
"Volkswagen is becoming more streamlined and speeding up its internal decision-making processes," the carmaker said, adding that the number of top managers reporting directly to CEO Mueller has almost been halved.
Rothenspieler will report to Mueller, as will VW's new finance chief Frank Witter, new head of compliance Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt and new human resources chief Karlheinz Blessing.
Volkswagen on Friday postponed publication of its financial results for 2015 and delayed its annual shareholders' meeting as it struggles to put an exact price on the diesel emissions scandal.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Jan Harvey)
