According to reports from Germany, VW board member and product guru Wolfgang Bernhard will resign from the company tomorrow. The move comes following the board's ouster of VW Group CEO and Bernhard ally Bernd Pischetsrieder earlier this month.
Speculation about Wolfie's post-Pischetsrieder future has been rampant since the board's coup against the big boss earlier this month, but our sources tell us to expect Bernhard back at DaimlerChrysler--and reunited with old pal Dieter Zetsche--by this winter. DaimlerChrysler is of course where Bernhard helped turn around the flagging fortunes of the Chrysler Group prior to taking the position with Volkswagen.
We can't help but be a little disappointed at the news, since Bernhard's hard-nosed approach seemed to be exactly what VW needed from both a product and organizational standpoint. But with executives at the top automakers constantly jumping from company to company like orangutans on speed, we're not especially surprised.