Arno Antlitz developed an interest in maths, physics and economics at an early age. He was already good with figures as a boy and his enthusiasm for technology grew as a teenager. Antlitz grew up in a small village with around 1,000 inhabitants in Lower Franconia on the edge of the Rhön region. There was a petrol station and garage in Bad Kissingen around 20 kilometres away and the man who is today one of the leading managers at Germany’s largest automotive company remembers “working there a lot, especially in the summer holidays”. The family man does not like talking about his private life. He played football as a young man and also won a trophy and became youth champion at a local gun club. Former members of the club remember him as a “dependable and sociable but never self-indulgent”, as was once reported by the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Antlitz is renowned as someone with a clear mind and a good memory – a characterisation that the TU Darmstadt alumnus doesn’t dispute.

These qualities helped him during his degree. It is no surprise that one of his favourite subjects was thermodynamics, which was dreaded by many of his fellow students. He also excelled in engineering design, which is today better known as product development or product design. Herbert Birkhofer, who was Head of the Institute for Product Development and Machine Elements for many years, was one of the professors that Arno Antlitz still remembers fondly to this day. According to the VW manager, another “highlight” of his degree studies was being taught by Bert Rürup, an economic leader and political advisor, who lectured in financial and economic policy at TU Darmstadt for three decades. “I still enjoy reading his column in the Handelsblatt newspaper.”

Later on during his doctoral studies at WHU Koblenz (Otto Beisheim School of Management), Arno Antlitz focussed more on commercial aspects and also founded a student business consultancy firm at this time. Shortly after gaining his PhD, he joined the business consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he worked for five years on projects that primarily focussed on strategy, organisational optimisation and cost optimisation in the automotive and supplier industries. This area of focus meant that he became a suitable candidate for the Volkswagen Group and Antlitz joined the company in 2004. One year later, he took over responsibility for global product controlling for the Volkswagen brand and has since forged a career as a finance manager and strategist in Wolfsburg. He was appointed as the Member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management for “Controlling and Accounting” in 2010. Following a brief period as Chief Financial Officer of Audi, he became Chief Financial Officer of the Volkswagen Group in 2021 and has also held the position of Chief Operating Officer since 2022.

These roles have been far from easy in an era when the automotive sector is faced with major challenges such as the switch to e-mobility, a weak economy, global upheaval and tough international competition. As a global company with German roots, the Volkswagen Group is also viewed as a test case for the German economy as a whole. All eyes turn to Wolfsburg when this automotive manufacturer discusses closing one of its German factories or implementing cost saving and restructuring measures. “Volkswagen has both an economic and social relevance and this is something that we take into account in our decisions”, says Arno Antlitz.

Antlitz has come under scrutiny but the TU Darmstadt alumnus views the current situation as positive and sees the opportunities. He is motivated to “guide the Group towards a secure future, even if we have to take one or two hard decisions on the way to achieving this goal”. According to Arno Antlitz, the waypoints and challenges that have to be overcome by Germany’s largest company include artificial intelligence, competition from China and the changing economic and political landscape. He believes that the company has to focus on its strengths. “There are few other companies with such strong brands as us.” This includes renowned names such as Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and VW and he believes that the company now has to make more of these strengths. “We have to create the economic conditions and improve our profitability so that we can successfully transform our company”, says Antlitz. This means that the Group has to reduce its high costs but Antlitz is certainly not only focussing on factory closures. “Some business areas are growing and others will be restructured.” According to the TU Darmstadt alumnus, the important thing is to maintain the support of the workforce.

The Chief Financial Officer is also following a global strategy in which the company will develop new products for specific regions in cooperation with local technology partners. Volkswagen will invest heavily in e-mobility but also aims to remain competitive with its combustion technology. “E-mobility is developing more slowly than anticipated but the future is still electric”, says Antlitz confidently. He likes to recharge his own batteries on skiing holidays or by spending time with his family. Anyone who is constantly under public scrutiny needs places to retreat for a while before re-engaging fully in professional life.