The “Dieselgate” scandal has profound implications for the VW Group, not only in terms of image and financial costs, but also from an organizational point of view.
Following the resignation of Martin Winterkorn as VW Group CEO and the nomination of Matthias Müller as his successor, the automaker has also changed the CEOs of Skoda and SEAT. Winfried Vahland was replaced by Bernhard Maier at Skoda, while Luca de Meo took over the top position at SEAT from Jürgen Stackmann.
Winfried Vahland was not punished for anything, but promoted as CEO of VW Group’s newly-formed North American Region (NAR). The new unit consolidates the company’s activities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, as part of VW Group’s decentralization of its company activities.
In this role as President and CEO of Volkswagen NAR, Winfried Vahland will be responsible for all Group activities in the newly formed region from November 1, 2015. As NAR President, Vahland will also be a member of the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand’s Board of Management.
The VW brand has had modest performances in the United States in recent years and one of the aims of Volkswagen NAR is to improve that. The new North American Region (NAR) will function on top of the existing structure of the markets as a means to strengthen VW Group’s activities in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
VW says the step is a further measure in the process of decentralizing managerial responsibility, creating “another strong pillar in the global structure of the group, in addition to the European and Chinese regions.”
One of the key aims of Volkswagen NAR is to allow the company to react better to customer demands and tastes in the future, thanks to the closer proximity to the markets and their customers.
As a previous VW Group CEO for the Chinese region and as Skoda brand CEO, Winfried Vahland is described by the company as one of its best managers to take responsibility for the new region.
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