July 5, 2007
A troubleshooter is being sent from Germany to oversee and boost the sales and profits of Volkswagen of America and Audi of America.
Stefan Jacoby, 49, will become president and CEO of Volkswagen of America Inc., the holding company for the two brands. He replaces Frank Witter, 48, who has been in the job since January 2005.
Witter will become co-president of Volkswagen Credit Inc., sharing the job with Kevin Kelly, 60.
Jacoby has been charged with restructuring the Volkswagen group's business in the United States and working closely with the German management board, the company says. "The objective is to achieve further significant expansion in the position of Volkswagen and Audi in the U.S. market through attractive and competitive products," the Volkswagen group says.
Says a VW group spokesman: "If you look at our figures, you will see the U.S. is our biggest construction site. There is concern, but that's not new. The board says we have to act quickly and look deeply into the U.S. market to get things going there. All of our markets are going well."
The Volkswagen group lost $827 million (607 million euros) in North America last year. VW will release figures for the first half of 2007 in late July.
The VW brand expects flat sales in the United States this year. Last year, VW sold 235,140 vehicles in the United States, a far cry from its peak of nearly 570,000 units in 1970.
Audi says that in 2007, it will break last year's U.S. sales record of 90,116 units. Audi has said it expects to break even here this year and perhaps turn a profit in 2008.
Jacoby currently is executive vice president for global marketing and sales for the VW group, a job he has held since 2004. He also was responsible for the Asia-Pacific region from 1997 to 2001.
Jacoby left VW from 2001 to 2004 to be CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Europe.
Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president of Volkswagen of America Inc., and Johan de Nysschen, executive vice president of Audi of America Inc., will report to Jacoby as well as to brand executives in Germany.
Source:
Diana T. Kurylko
Automotive News Europe
