Tag Archives: VW Group

News

Data from nearly 1 million VW Group vehicles leaked

In 2023, a study by the Mozilla Foundation found that many car manufacturers collect more data than necessary, and sometimes even resell it. Now, it has emerged that data from nearly a million VW Group vehicles has been compromised.

GPS data from a large number of EVs was left unprotected and publicly available for months, allowing unauthorized parties to create detailed profiles of the vehicles’ users. According to Reuters, the vehicle data could reveal the names and contact details of drivers, owners and locations for nearly 500,000 vehicles. Among the owners of these cars are a large number of people from politics and business, as well as people from professional groups dealing with security (police officers).

The problem was discovered by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), which informed VW, and the company quickly reacted and fixed the problem. However, given the length of the problem, it is not excluded that some of the data ended up with third parties. VW said the data is used to improve batteries and software, and is not used to create profiles about individuals or vehicle movements. Still, this incident should force EV manufacturers to do a better job of protecting vehicle data.

Source: Reuters

News

Porsche’s CEO is the new head of VW

One of the largest car manufacturers in the world will soon have a new CEO. The current CEO of the VW Group, Herbert Diess, will resign at the end of next month, and from September, the former CEO of Porsche, Oliver Blume, will take over.

The German company did not say why Diess resigned. He came to Volkswagen from BMW in 2015, at a time when the company was rocked by the Dieselgate affair. Diess is credited with ushering the company into a new era, encouraging major investment in electric vehicle production, with the goal of selling one million electric cars a year by the middle of this decade.

With the new CEO, the VW group will certainly not lose, what so ever, they will get someone who knows the situation in the company very well. Blume will become CEO in early September, and should be a long-term solution for VW. One of the first big challenges for him will be to find a potential investor, given that VW has previously established the framework for a potential initial public offering.

After joining the VW Group in the mid-90s, this will be Blume’s biggest challenge yet. In a statement to the media, he did not hide his enthusiasm for the new position. He said his focus will be on customers and products.

Source: VW Group