VW: Blume to step down from Porsche post in 2026, Leiters to take over

Initially, the German publications Der Spiegel and Bild reported, citing insider sources, that the manager would step down as CEO of Porsche in 2026. The supervisory board had agreed on a successor. The name was not yet mentioned in the media reports, but it was said to be a technically savvy man with a background in the Volkswagen world.

Shortly after these reports, Porsche itself confirmed that Michael Leiters would be the next CEO. Negotiations with him would begin, the company announced on Friday. “The Executive Committee of the Supervisory Board of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft (“Porsche”) today instructed the Chairman of the Supervisory Board to hold talks with Dr Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche, about his amicable early departure from the Porsche Executive Board,” the statement said. “Dr Michael Leiters, former Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Automotive Limited, is available as a possible successor to the position of Chairman of the Board of Management. Negotiations will be held with Dr Leiters. Dr Blume would continue in his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.”

Leiters fits the description given in the reports. From 2000 to 2013, he was already active at Porsche – among other things as assistant to the CEO, project manager for the Cayenne and, most recently, as product line director. From 2014 onwards, he spent more than eight years at Ferrari as CTO, driving forward the development of sports cars – including the electric Ferrari, which is set to make its debut soon. In mid-2022, he took over as CEO at McLaren Automotive, but left the British sports car manufacturer in April this year. McLaren had fallen into a deep crisis during the coronavirus pandemic and had to lay off 1,000 employees at one point. Under Leiter, the company has stabilised again.

There were already reports to this effect in the summer, when it was said that a successor would be appointed in the autumn, which, according to the latest information, appears to be the case. The planned implementation of the change at the beginning of 2026 also coincides with the current reports. Blume has been at the helm of Porsche for ten years now and has also been leading the VW Group since 2022. He took over the latter position from Herbert Diess in September 2022. Blume himself has said several times that the dual role is ‘not intended to last forever’. Most recently, however, Blume had defended his dual role. He said the constellation had been deliberately chosen and brought enormous advantages in the restructuring of the group.

With the impending change at the top, the major restructuring of the Porsche Executive Board would continue and possibly come to an end for the time being. In February, the Stuttgart-based company parted ways with Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke and Chief Sales Officer Detlev von Platen. Jochen Breckner took over responsibility for finance and IT, while Matthias Becker took over responsibility for sales and marketing. In both cases, these were internal succession solutions. With Leiters, a manager who has not worked for Porsche or the VW Group for more than ten years, is now likely to take over in Zuffenhausen.

finanzen.at (Ad-hoc announcement by Porsche), spiegel.de, bild.de, linkedin.com (Michael Leiters)

This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for electrive’s German edition