Volkswagen to replace head of software division, report says

Volkswagen to replace head of software division, report says

Volkswagen is replacing its head of software development, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Sunday, as the German carmaker wrestles with the transition to electric vehicles.

The newspaper said Christian Senger, a former BMW manager who runs the recently founded Car.Software.Org unit, was to be replaced after clashes with the company and concern at software problems with the recent ID.3 and Golf 8 vehicles.

Senger was part of a network of external managers Chief Executive Herbert Diess had brought in to reform the company. Senger, after working on BMW’s i3 electric car, helped Volkswagen make its MEB electric car platform, a key pillar of its revival in the wake of a 2015 diesel cheating scandal.

The software post is one of the most important in the development of new-generation electric vehicles, which are far more reliant on computer power than the combustion engine that have been Volkswagen’s mainstay. Volkswagen declined to comment on the report.