The Golden Steering Wheel

There is a particular form of cowardice in journalism. It does not consist of concealing the truth. It consists of telling the truth only when it no longer costs anything.

I. The Discovery of the Sleepyheads

In March 2026, a well-known German business journalist published an article cataloguing the management failures of the German automotive industry over the past twenty years. The analysis was precise. The facts were correct. Dieter Zetsche had sold his remaining Tesla shares in 2014 — because he believed Tesla had already passed its peak. That 9.1 per cent stake would today be worth 2.5 times the entire Mercedes-Benz Group. Bosch and Mercedes hold the most patents for autonomous driving worldwide — and spent decades using their lobbying power to protect diesel subsidies instead of pushing for approval rules for autonomous driving. The IG Metall said no to wage reductions and no to an automation wave — and nobody risked the conflict.

The article's conclusion: Winterkorn, Zetsche, Pischetsrieder, Stadler — not heroes, but sleepyheads. They had squandered the lead that others had built for them. Retrospectively, their bonus payments should be clawed back.

The analysis was correct. The timing was interesting.

II. What the Timing Means

Martin Winterkorn has not been VW chief since 2015 — he resigned after the diesel scandal and was convicted of fraud in Germany in 2021. Rupert Stadler has been on probation since 2023. Dieter Zetsche left office in 2019 to a standing ovation. Bernd Pischetsrieder was VW chief from 2002 to 2006 — he has been out of the business for two decades.

These men can no longer sue. They can no longer withdraw advertising. They no longer have press spokespeople who call editorial offices. They no longer sit on the boards of companies that supply media groups with advertising revenue. They are, in other words, safe targets.

Criticism of safe targets is not criticism. It is a retrospective invoice.

III. What Was Written During Their Time in Office

Das goldene Lenkrad ist kein abstraktes Symbol. Es ist ein konkreter Preis, den Automobilzeitschriften jährlich vergeben — und den die genannten Manager in ihren aktiven Jahren mehrfach erhalten haben. Winterkorn wurde 2007 von der Fachpresse zum „Auto-Mann des Jahres“ gekürt. Zetsche bekam den Titel „Manager des Jahres“ — von Wirtschaftsmedien, die er durch Inserate und exklusive Interviews alimentierte. Pischetsrieder galt als „Visionär“, als er BMW und Rover zusammenführte — ein Deal, der BMW Milliarden kostete und mit der Demontage von Rover endete.

In all those years when the wrong decisions were made — the ones the 2026 article describes so precisely: the missed electromobility, the neglected charging infrastructure, the pawned lobbying power — in all those years, the same media that now prosecute were writing paeans of praise. Not because they were blind. But because loyalty to power is a business model.

IV. Die Mechanik des nachträglichen Mutes

Retrospective courage follows a recognisable pattern. While a manager is in power, he is courted. Exclusive interviews, cover stories, award ceremonies. Criticism — when it appears — is constructive, embedded, cushioned. Nobody wants to lose access.

As soon as the manager is gone — through resignation, scandal, conviction or retirement — the narrative reverses. Now there is room for the truth. Now one can say what one always knew. The analysis that should have been printed in 2014 appears in 2026. It is just as correct as it was then — and costs nothing any more.

This is not a conspiracy. It is structure. Advertising-financed journalism is structurally dependent on not antagonising the companies from which it receives its money. The result is not lying — it is a systematic displacement of the critical gaze onto targets that can no longer defend themselves.

V. The Shared Culpability

What the 2026 article correctly describes but incompletely names is the distribution of responsibility. Winterkorn, Zetsche, Pischetsrieder, Stadler — yes. But also the supervisory boards that approved their strategies year after year. The IG Metall, which said no to modernisation and yes to wages that no longer admitted international competition. The politicians who preferred to defend diesel subsidies rather than create conditions for electromobility. And the media that accompanied and legitimised all of this — with trophies, titles, and cover stories.

The sleepyheads did not sit only in the boardrooms. They also sat in the editorial offices. The difference is: the executives have since faced consequences. The editorial offices continue writing — and continue distributing prizes to those currently in power.

VI. Was echter Qualitätsjournalismus bedeutet hätte

In 2012, when Tesla unveiled the Model S and it was obvious that electromobility was no longer a niche phenomenon, an independent business journalist should have written: why did Mercedes sell 40 per cent of its Tesla stake to a sovereign wealth fund? Why is Volkswagen not building its own charging network? Why are the most patents for autonomous driving in the world being held — but not a single car being built that drives itself?

These questions needed to be asked when they could still have had consequences. When the decisions were still reversible. When the men who would have had to answer them were still in office and would still have had to respond.

Instead the questions came in 2026. After the convictions. After the retirements. After the loss of billions in market value, hundreds of thousands of jobs, the reputation of an entire industry.

The Golden Steering Wheel is not just a prize. It is a mirror. It shows what a medium considers valuable — and when.

VII. The Blind Spot of the Courageous

There is one final question that is never asked in such articles: what am I writing right now about the managers currently in office — and who is receiving the golden steering wheels today?

Wer heute über Oliver Blume schreibt, über Ola Källenius, über die Entscheider, die die nächsten zwanzig Jahre prägen werden — schreibt er, was er wirklich denkt? Oder schreibt er, was den Zugang sichert, die Exklusivinterviews, die Einladungen zu Hintergrundgesprächen auf Yachten und in Vorstandsvillän?

Wer 2026 Winterkorn und Zetsche als Schlafmützen bezeichnet, macht sich damit noch nicht zum mutigen Journalisten. Mut wäre es, denselben Maßstab auf die Lebenden anzuwenden. Mut wäre es, das goldene Lenkrad zurückzufordern, bevor der Empfänger verurteilt wird.

Courage would be asking the question: if I look back in ten years — what should I have written today that I did not write?