Vahland May Leave VW China & Join in Skoda

　　The Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Group China Winfried Vahland may be assigned with a new post. Some insiders firmly stated that when the tenure expired at the end of 2009, Vahland would become the Global President of Skoda. Several days ago Vahland was elected as the first Chairman of Board of European Automobile Manufacturers Association (China). It seems that Vahland may not leave China soon. Though Skoda's Global President is a nice position, Vahland may feel unhappy if he can't serve as the President of Volkswagen China.

　　Vahland may not want to leave the booming Chinese market. During four-year tenure, he led Volkswagen to get rid of loss and achieve profits. Then he turned Volkswagen to a stronger brand and now VW has become the king in Chinese auto market. In the first ten months of 2009, VW's sales in China totaled more than one million units. There was no doubt that China would become the largest market for Volkswagen across the globe.

　　Vahland took office in July 2005 and he made great contributions to Volkswagen’s business in China. He is a strategist. In 2005, Vahland put forward the Olympic Strategy and raised another 2018 Strategy in the beginning of 2009. At the end of 2009 he came up with the Southeast China Strategy. In addition, Vahland had a slogan: technology + quality = Volkswagen. If he can continue serving in Volkswagen China, Vahland may put forward more strategies, which may not be surprising.

　　Winfried Vahland was born Germany in April 1957. He joined in Opel in 1984 and in 1990 he became a member of Audi. After several promotions, Vahland was transferred to the headquarters of Volkswagen. In 1997 Vahland went to Brazil and he became the Vice President for VW (Brazil) in 1998. Vahland joined in Skoda in August 2002 and after a year he became the Vice Chairman of Skoda. Since July 2005 Vahland has been serving as the President and CEO for VW China. At the same time, he is the Vice Chairman for Shanghai VW and FAW Volkswagen. After a year he was promoted to the Executive Vice President of VW Group. Now he is responsible for all the business of VW in China.

　　52-year-old Vahland is an executive in multinational corporation who is worthy of focus. He is self-confident and stern and good at summing up views and delivering speeches. You can easily observe his trace of pride. In ordinary days he likes driving and his car is Golf GTI. In fact, the domestic production of Golf GTI is related to Vahland's recommendations.

　　From the perspective of staff working in FAW Volkswagen and Shanghai Volkswagen, Vahland is a very powerful person and he spares no efforts for Volkswagen's interest. As to the distribution of rights in a joint venture, Vahland also tries his best. Under his management Audi China and Skoda China were established. At the same time, those two automakers are faced with a great burden. (Translator: Qinghua/Hanxin)

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　　http://auto.sohu.com/20091210/n268830756.shtml