(October 29, 2015) Matthias Mueller, chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, has announced the five key steps to realign the group. He presented a five point plan that he intends to use so that Volkswagen remains one of the world's leading automobile manufacturers in the future. Mueller is confident that "Volkswagen will emerge from the current diesel emissions cheating scandal stronger than before."

"We have to look beyond the current situation and create the conditions for Volkswagen's successful further development," said Mueller in Wolfsburg on Wednesday as he announced that the cornerstones of the Group's Strategy 2025, which will be presented next year.

Muller's comments came amid news that the Volkswagen Group slumped to a third-quarter operating loss related to the diesel problem, its first quarterly deficit in more than 15 years. The company posted a 3.48 billion euro ($3.84 billion) third-quarter operating loss, compared with a 3.23 billion euro profit a year ago.

The Volkswagen CEO explained that his top priority is to support the customers affected by the diesel issue. "Our customers are at the core of everything that our 600,000 employees worldwide do," he said. According to Mueller, Volkswagen is working intensively to develop effective technical solutions. In contact with the Kraftfahrtbundesamt (KBA – German Federal Motor Transport Authority) the implementation is set to begin in January.

Mueller's second priority is to systematically drive forward and complete the investigation into what happened. "We must uncover the truth and learn from it", he said, adding that Volkswagen is being extremely thorough in its analysis. For this purpose, audit firm Deloitte has been engaged in addition to the steps already announced. According to Mueller, those responsible for what has happened must face severe consequences.

Mueller's third priority is to introduce new structures in the Volkswagen Group. "The key point is that Group management will be decentralized to a greater extent in the future", he said, with more independence for the brands and regions. Mueller stated that the Board of Management will focus on addressing cross-brand strategies, leveraging synergies and ensuring that Group resources are used effectively. "We will review in detail our current portfolio of more than 300 models and examine the contribution that each one makes to our earnings."

As his fourth priority, Mueller is driving forward a realignment of the Group's culture and management behavior. He noted that the pursuit of perfection, the employees' commitment and social responsibility in the Volkswagen Group must be retained. However, he believes that changes are necessary in how Volkswagen communicates and how it handles its mistakes. "We need a culture of openness and cooperation." Mueller also called on everybody at Volkswagen to display more courage, greater creativity and a more entrepreneurial spirit in their dealings with one another.

The Volkswagen CEO announced that the fifth priority will be to transform the Group's Strategy 2018 into a Strategy 2025.

"Many people outside of Volkswagen, but also some of us, did not understand that our Strategy 2018 is about much more than production numbers. A lot of things were subordinated to the desire to be "Faster, Higher, Larger", especially return on sales."

According to Mueller, the point is not to sell 100,000 more or fewer vehicles than a major competitor. Instead, the real issue is qualitative growth. Mueller announced that the cornerstones of the Group's Strategy 2025 will be developed over the coming months, and that it would be unveiled mid-way through next year.