It says a lot about the state of the auto industry and where it's going that software problems have cost the CEO of an automaker his job.
Volkswagen Group ousted Herbert Diess as CEO on Friday after severe software development delays set back the scheduled launch of key new Porsche, Audi and Bentley electric cars.
This was untenable considering software problems have postponed the debut of VW’s initial rollout of ID models, and customers are still having to drop off their cars at the dealer for updates the company has struggled to make over the air.
Diess also did not do enough to make allies and became increasingly isolated due to his hard-nosed leadership style.
In his push to transform Volkswagen into an electric-vehicle leader, he repeatedly clashed with labor leaders by warning VW was losing out to Tesla and needed to cut thousands of jobs.
But failures at the automaker’s software unit Cariad ultimately eroded Diess’s support from the powerful Porsche and Piech family that calls the shots.