Volkswagen fueled speculation about its strategic plans today as a senior executive was quoted as saying the group was considering reorganising its operations into three divisions.
VW board member for sales and marketing Mr Robert Buechelhofer was quoted in the
Wall Street Journal's
online edition as saying he saw some merit in a reorganisation of the auto maker's nine brands into a trio of operational divisions - volume cars, premium cars and commercial vehicles.
VW declined to clarify the remarks which are the latest in a spate of provocative yet vague comments by VW management about the company's strategic direction ahead of chief executive Mr Ferdinand Piech's retirement expected later this year.
The Audi luxury carmaking unit in particular has been the subject of speculation in recent months after VW chief financial officer Mr Bruno Adelt told a German magazine a spin off of the unit had a certain logic and also following remarks by Mr Piech.
Last week, Mr Piech was quoted by a German newspaper as saying Audi was too conservative and gripped by immobility.
In 2000, the high-margin Audi business accounted for nearly 25 per cent of the VW's group net earnings of euro two billion.