Because the emissions scandal begun in United States, Volkswagen Group Supervisory Board decided to manage this market closely and named a very well regarded CEO for that.
First of all, the Supervisory Board decided it would be better to reorganize the Group activities North America and decided that markets in the USA, Mexico, and Canada will be combined and significantly strengthened to form a new North America region. Effective November 1, the Group’s activities in the region will be led by Winfried Vahland, formerly Chairman of the Board of Directors at Skoda, who in this new role becomes a member of the Volkswagen brand Board of Management.
Vahland’s successor as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Skoda will be Bernhard Maier (55), until now Board Member for Sales and Marketing of Porsche AG. A man of controversy after this scandal, Michael Horn remains President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.
There is more to that, as Volkswagen brand will introduce a management structure with four regions, each led by a local CEO with a direct reporting line to the brand Chairman, Herbert Diess.
The production department at Group level, until now led by Thomas Ulbrich in an interim capacity, will be abolished with immediate effect. This is one consequence of delegating responsibility to the brands and regions.
