Porsche boss Michael Macht is to leave the firm as part of a reshuffle arranged by its new owner Volkswagen.
Macht will be replaced in the role of Chief Executive Officer by Matthias Mueller, currently VW's current chief product planner, as group chairman Martin Winterkorn pushes forward his plan to take VW past Toyota as the world's largest car manufacturer. The switch will take place on 1 October.
Mueller is highly rated within VW, which is in the midst of a rapid expansion of its model line-up. He'll be tasked with introducing similar growth at Porsche, which needs to double sales to play its part in the VW Group's plan.
Macht, 49, will move to become head of VW production, a role similar to the one he filled at Porsche for a decade before taking over as CEO.
But the switch will be seen by industry insiders as a clear move on Winterkorn's part to remove the last key piece of a Porsche managerial structure which, until last summer, had audacious plans to take over Volkswagen itself.
