Heading up a vehicle manufacturer means a lot of stress, but there’s no arguing that the money is good. Just take a look at some of these international salaries…
Heading up a vehicle manufacturer means a lot of stress and you could be fired at the drop of a hat – just ask former Ford boss Jacques Nasser. But there’s no arguing that the money is good. Just take a look at some of these international salaries…
According to , Renault chairman Louis Schweitzer earned R10,67 million in 2001, up from R1 million in 2000. This includes his salary of R7,2 million, while the rest is linked to Renault’s performance.
According to Renault’s annual report, the French manufacturer’s top 23 managers earned a total of R95 million.
Peugeot-Citroën will be revealing what it pays its chairman, Jean-Martin Folz, at the shareholders’ meeting in May. But it has already announced that its top 12 executives earned R61,11 million in 2000. DaimlerChrysler said its top 13 executives earned an average of R16 million each.
But this does not compare with salaries at German sports car maker Porsche. The company said it paid its six management board members an average of R19 million each, but some received more than others.
“We don’t have socialism in the boardroom – not everyone gets the same,” said Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking. “Some board members are more experienced, some less.”
But he would not say how much he earned, and despite calls from investor companies for firms to reveal the individual salaries of their management, Porsche will not be doing so.
“The discussion is a non-discussion,” Wiedeking said. “It says in the annual report what the management board are paid, you don’t need higher math to figure out how much Wiedeking gets.”
The combined pay of Volkswagen’s nine-member board increased from R114 million in 2000 to R168 million in 2001. BMW’s eight-member board earned R86 million in 2001, up from R82 million in 2000.
And don’t feel too sorry for Nasser, who has kept rather quiet since he was ousted from Ford last year. Despite Ford having the worst financial year in almost a decade, the manufacturer said this week that Nasser was paid almost R110 million in 2001. He received R187 million in 2000.
Wolfgang Reitzle, who runs Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, saw his pay fall 58 per cent to R13,2 million in 2001, including a R1,3 million housing allowance, while president and chief operating officer Nick Scheele received R11 million, down 41 per cent from in 2000.