Volkswagen to invest US$31b between 2002 and 2006

Volkswagen to invest US$31b between 2002 and 2006

Agence France-Presse
Germany

Volkswagen, the leading car maker in Europe, plans to invest
some 31 billion euros (US$27 billion) between 2002 and 2006, it
announced on Friday.

The cash, approved by the car maker's supervisory board at a
meeting here, would be invested mainly in expanding and updating
VW's range of models, the car maker said in a statement.

Furthermore, VW said it would be carving up the its brands
into two separate entities, one combining the "sporty" Audi, Seat
and Lamborghini models and the other comprising the "classic" VW,
Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti models.

The supervisory board also rubber-stamped a number of changes
on its management board, including the departure of the head of
its top-of-the-range Audi unit, Franz-Josef Paefgen.

From March 1, 2002, Martin Winterkorn would succeed Paefgen as
head of Audi, while Paefgen would take over as head of Rolls
Royce and Bentley Motor Cars, VW said.

There had been recurrent speculation in the German press that
VW's new chairman, Bernd Pischetsrieder, who takes the steering
wheel at the company on April 17, 2002, would boot out finance
chief Bruno Adelt and marketing chief Robert Buechelhofer.

But Adelt and Buechelhofer would retain their current
positions on VW's management board, said VW spokesman Stephan
Gruehsem.

Among the other personnel changes, Audi board member Andreas
Schleef would assume additional responsibility for VW's Spanish
marque SEAT.