FRANKFURT - Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn is in line to get a fresh five-year term in January to oversee the integration of sports car maker Porsche AG, Automotive News reported.
VW's supervisory board members have agreed to extend Winterkorn's contract until 2016, when the CEO would be 69, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, without saying where it got the information.
VW, which is Europe's largest carmaker, declined to comment.
In September, the head of VW's works council, Bernd Osterloh, said the supervisory board plans to extend Winterkorn’s contract.
“Our chief executive officer has advanced the company in every respect,” Osterloh said at the time.
Apart from folding Porsche into VW's array of nine car and truck brands, VW is planning the construction of new plants in China, the United States and India and aims to expand its cooperation with peer Suzuki Motor Corp., in which VW bought a 20 percent stake for $2.5 billion in December 2009.
Winterkorn had told Der Spiegel in September that he aimed to remain in his position after his current contract expires next year.
Winterkorn has said that his target for VW to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. as the biggest car manufacturer worldwide by 2018 is likely to prove tough.
Winterkorn, who previously was the CEO of VW’s Audi luxury unit, took over as CEO Jan. 1, 2007, from Bernd Pischetsrieder. German CEO contracts typically run for a five-year period and a decision on an extension taken by the supervisory board about year before the contract’s end.
Winterkorn has the support of Lower Saxony, the German state with a 20 percent stake in the carmaker and the power to veto major decisions.
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