HAMBURG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's supervisory board does not rule out doing away with a custom under which the carmaker's top executive must be a company veteran, Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said.
Current Chief Executive Matthias Mueller, whose contract runs through 2020, has been with the Volkswagen (VW) group for nearly 40 years, including in senior roles at premium divisions Audi and Porsche.
Poetsch said in comments to Reuters that the supervisory board would deal with the question of who will succeed Mueller "in due course".
"Of course we are open as far as the outcome is concerned," he said in reference to the possibility of a candidate from outside the VW ranks or a woman to succeed Mueller. (Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan)