People need to feel free again

A Dutchman to lead the car maker Audi is now out of the crisis. In this Interview, he explains what he wants to do differently than his predecessor, Rupert Stadler.

By Roman Deininger and Max Hägler Roman Deininger

Roman Deininger is a political Reporter for The page Three/book Two, the Reportage division of the SZ. Born and raised in Ingolstadt, where freelance "Donau Kurier". Policy and theatre studies in Munich, Vienna and New Orleans. Dissertation on the relationship between politics and Religion in the United States. Traineeship at the SZ, then a correspondent for Swiss francs, a political correspondent for Baden-Württemberg and Reporter for the Weekend section.

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Max Hägler is a Department editor at Business. Born in Munich, studied political science there. While the civil service structure of a publishing GmbH. For the election to the Bundestag 2005 he began to report as a country correspondent for the "taz" from Bavaria. Since the summer of 2008, he is in the süddeutsche Zeitung: as a Bayern correspondent in Regensburg, and later as a business correspondent for Baden-Württemberg.

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a tie is hardly even an Executive in the automotive industry. But a black turtleneck sweater under a blue suit, like in Bram Schot? This is also unusual. So like this Manager is a bit out of line. In the next hour will be a lot of talk by his name, and quite fast: Schot, a Dutch and a Fan of football club Feyenoord Rotterdam, wants to say a lot about the company that is in crisis, too much in hierarchies thinks. And then he wants to get rid of Yes, that he moves pretty good Ski.

We meet in the meeting room of the Executive building in Ingolstadt, i.e. A50. On the shelf Audi models, a yellow Coupe that looks so real that it is like a little around the fingers. Here has declared a number of months ago, Rupert Stadler, his view on the diesel scandal, and the challenges of the industry, is in transition. Only hours after Stadler in June had been arrested because of allegations of fraud in connection with the diesel scandal in pretrial detention, was Bram Schot used as interim chief. Work, consume, and also because he is since then, until late at night in the Shop: Ten pounds, he has removed in the meantime. And the responsibility will, in the future, not less. A few days ago, has him appointed to the Supervisory Board to the ordinary in-chief; at the same time, he pulls in to the turn of the year, the management Board of the parent company, Volkswagen. Be understanding of one's role: "There is always one that is in the end responsible, and the name of Bram Schot."

It is of course not an easy Moment, to take responsibility, not simply a Moment in this business, suffering figures, poor sales, and still the cleanup of the diesel scandal. "But it is also an opportunity," he says: "We have the opportunity to put everything to the test and to change things." The last two decades, until the scandal, had been spoiled by the car maker, had become "a bit sluggish" - and got bogged down: "We need to focus more, we make just too much," says Schot. And calls for more power: The Output of 90 000 employees, is too low. To work with it simply to get more: many of The ideas in the company should be able to thrive. The climate is crucial: "How do we deal with each other? People need to feel free again!"

read in-depth commencement of the interview, which has five main thrusts of the new Audi CEO, what his grandfather taught him, and so it is practical to raise there Weights, where the company's own employees.