Volkswagen Group reorganizes North American operations; Prof. Dr. Winfried Vahland new region CEO
29 September 2015
As part of its restructuring, Volkswagen Group is combining its activities in the US, Mexico and Canada into the newly formed North American Region (NAR). The Supervisory Board has appointed Prof. Dr. Winfried Vahland, since 2010 the CEO of Group company ŠKODA, to take over all responsibility for the North American Region. In this new role as President and CEO of Volkswagen NAR, Prof. Dr. Vahland will be responsible for all Group activities in the newly formed region from 1 November 2015. Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, and will report to Dr. Vahland.
Volkswagen said that the creation of NAR is a further measure in the process of decentralizing managerial responsibility, and creates another pillar in the global structure of the group, in addition to the European and Chinese regions.
The aim among other things is to have the ability to react better to customer demands and tastes in the future; closer proximity to the markets and their customers will enable this, the Group said. In addition to leading ŠKODA, Vahland was also Group CEO for China.
As NAR President, he will be a member of the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand’s Board of Management. The exact structure of the NAR is currently being developed.
Prof. Dr. Winfried Vahland graduated from the Technical University Darmstadt with a major in Mechanical Engineering and Economics, and began his professional career with GM in 1984. He joined Audi AG in 1990 and Volkswagen AG in 1993. From 1997, he was Vice President for Volkswagen in Brazil. He was appointed Member of ŠKODA AUTO’s Board of Management in 2002, and became Vice Chairman one year later. In 2005, he assumed the position of President and CEO of Volkswagen Group in China.
So what.. like BP, $billions in damage will settled some day for dimes in fines from a set of governments that 'accidentally' missed the true emissions readings for decades.
Posted by: kelly | 29 September 2015 at 07:48 PM
This will be no quick fix for VW. I can not imagine that US and California regulators would let them off the hook with a slap. Then you still have shareholders, dealers, vehicle owners, the list is very long of aggrieved parties. On top of all the settlements, add significantly slower sales - even after the ban is lifted.
More people are starting to worry about the environment. It's an inflection point. California already has a bona fide drought crisis. California's central valley, a major food source for the US, is know to have significant, life-shortening air quality problems. Air quality is a topic that is getting people's attention worldwide.
This is truly a colossal debacle for the tone-deaf VW.
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 30 September 2015 at 02:46 PM