• Adweek, Thursday, November 9, 2006 11 AM

The resignation of Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder is "a shock wave that will take a while to travel through the industry," says Todd Turner, principal analyst at Car Concepts in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Pischetsrieder--who had been given a contract extension through 2012 last May--is stepping down at the end of the year in favor of Martin Winterkorn, the head of VW's luxury car unit Audi. Based on his accomplishments at Audi, Turner projected that Winterkorn "will be fantastic. He's a hard driver who simply will not accept status quo."

One source said Pischetsrieder's departure stemmed from an internal high-level power struggle at the company. "Apparently, the ax fell on the losing team," the source says. "Marketing and sales are turning around, certainly in Europe, and now in the U.S." VW is up 10% on the year to 198,000 units, based largely on sales of its Rabbit and Passat models, according to Car Concepts.

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