The biggest challenges facing a new VW CEO include penetrating the China market, software development, and overcoming the automaker’s hidebound corporate culture.

What’s at stake?
Ousting Herbert Diess might win a popularity contest inside the Volkswagen Group, but it hardly fixes the German carmaker’s structural problems. Stakes are high for new CEO Oliver Blume, who must simultaneously restore VW’s software excellence, battle a conservative corporate culture, and reverse significant sales losses in China.