By Rachel More
BERLIN (Reuters) -Porsche has agreed on a successor to CEO Oliver Blume, who will step down next year, ending a dual CEO at the luxury carmaker and parent Volkswagen that has been unpopular with investors, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported on Friday.
Pressure has mounted on Blume, who has led Porsche for 10 years, to give up one of the jobs, with both companies facing major challenges from tariffs, weak Chinese demand and a costly shift to electric vehicles.
Porsche’s supervisory board has agreed on a successor to Blume and is expected to vote on the appointment soon, Bild said, citing six unidentified sources. It did not name the favoured candidate.
The supervisory board is scheduled to meet on October 24.
SLIDING SHARE PRICES
Porsche and Volkswagen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In August, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Porsche had begun the search for a new CEO.
Since Blume took the helm at both automakers, shares in Volkswagen have fallen by more than a third, while Porsche’s stock is down more than half.
Punished for the stock market decline since its listing three years ago, Porsche exited the blue-chip DAX last month.
Both Volkswagen and Porsche are undergoing restructuring, which some investors have said requires the undivided attention of a CEO for each company.
Porsche has struggled particularly in its key market China and Blume recently announced a costly strategy reversal away from EVs and back towards the combustion engine models that made it famous.
The carmaker’s sales in China plunged 26% year-on-year in the first nine months of this year as Chinese consumers rejected its EVs in favor of sporty alternatives from local rivals like BYD and Xiaomi.
(Reporting by Rachel More. Writing by Friederike Heine. Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Mark Potter)
