Photo: Volkswagen
Germany’s Volkswagen Group has announced its new heads of Design, Research&Development, Sales, Production and Product.
The Wolfsburg-based carmaker has released the names of the new chiefs of five of its departments. The new leaders of Volkswagen’s main divisions have the difficult task of cleaning up the mess after the Dieselgate scandal.
Most of the appointments are internal, and all the executives will have responsibilities that will cover all group brands. Along with the new leaders, Volkswagen Group’s management structure has been “streamlined” and the number of top managers that respond directly to Matthias Muller is almost at half from last month’s level.
With that being said, let’s move on with the appointments.
Ulrich Eichhorn (actually written with two “h”) will lead the Research and Development department. Eichhorn is replacing Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg and was Bentley’s engineering chief until 2012. He left Bentley to lead the German VDA industry association.
Michael Mauer, Porsche’s head designer, will also lead VW Group’s design department. Before his Porsche appointment in 2004, Mauer worked for Mercedes-Benz, Saab and GM Europe. His work includes the first generation A-Class and SLK, as well as the current generation 911, Macan, Cayman, 918 and many other Porsche cars. It’s safe to say the German group’s design department is in good hands.
Audi’s current head of vehicle concepts, Ralf-Gerhard Willner, will be responsible with product and modular architectures across the entire VW Group.
Meanwhile, the new boss of group production will be Wolfram Thomas. He’s been with VW for 35 years and held key posts for the VW brand, VW light commercial vehicles division and for the Seat brand. Currently, he’s the head of environment, energy and new business areas. Wolfram Thomas’s appointment comes to a job that’s been vacant since Michael Macht left in 2014.
Finally, the new sales director of the Volkswagen Group is Fred Kappler. Before this task, Kappler had key roles for several VW Group brands and led the company’s aftermarket division. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, one of the most experienced executives the VW Group has, was appointed last week to handle the Dieselgate crisis.
Most of the appointments are internal, and all the executives will have responsibilities that will cover all group brands. Along with the new leaders, Volkswagen Group’s management structure has been “streamlined” and the number of top managers that respond directly to Matthias Muller is almost at half from last month’s level.
With that being said, let’s move on with the appointments.
Ulrich Eichhorn (actually written with two “h”) will lead the Research and Development department. Eichhorn is replacing Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg and was Bentley’s engineering chief until 2012. He left Bentley to lead the German VDA industry association.
Michael Mauer, Porsche’s head designer, will also lead VW Group’s design department. Before his Porsche appointment in 2004, Mauer worked for Mercedes-Benz, Saab and GM Europe. His work includes the first generation A-Class and SLK, as well as the current generation 911, Macan, Cayman, 918 and many other Porsche cars. It’s safe to say the German group’s design department is in good hands.
Audi’s current head of vehicle concepts, Ralf-Gerhard Willner, will be responsible with product and modular architectures across the entire VW Group.
Meanwhile, the new boss of group production will be Wolfram Thomas. He’s been with VW for 35 years and held key posts for the VW brand, VW light commercial vehicles division and for the Seat brand. Currently, he’s the head of environment, energy and new business areas. Wolfram Thomas’s appointment comes to a job that’s been vacant since Michael Macht left in 2014.
Finally, the new sales director of the Volkswagen Group is Fred Kappler. Before this task, Kappler had key roles for several VW Group brands and led the company’s aftermarket division. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, one of the most experienced executives the VW Group has, was appointed last week to handle the Dieselgate crisis.
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