New VW boss planning big changes

Martin Winterkorn, the soon-to-be chief of Volkswagen group, is planning a major restructuring of the company that's expected to take place early next year. Germany's Der Spiegel is reporting that the biggest changes will effect the entire group's top management, which includes senior staff from Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. The plan is to combine the separate premium brands' management into one major group and to do the same with with the company's volume group, which includes VW, Seat and Skoda.

The integration of management will see the reduction of wasted investment that was supposedly allowed by former CEO, Bernd Pischetsrieder. Previously, if Audi wanted a new engine, it would develop its own unit and then if Volkswagen wanted a similar product it would build its own from scratch, with each company working autonomously. Under the restructuring plan, development programs would be integrated, which should lead to both a reduction in costs and shorter time to market figures.