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At his own request: Currently Skoda chairman but due to become head of the VW Group in North America from November 1, Winfried Vahland is leaving the company due to differences of opinion over strategy in the US.

ONE of Volkswagen’s top global executives, Winfried Vahland, has elected to leave the company after 25 years of service rather than take up the position of head of VW in North America.

Currently chairman of VW’s Czech brand Skoda, Prof Vahland was assigned to the newly formed position on September 25 as part of the German auto giant’s management restructure orchestrated by new CEO Matthias Mueller in the wake of the diesel emissions-rigging scandal, which originated in the US and has become a global crisis for the company.

In a statement released overnight, Skoda said Prof Vahland – who rose to prominence in the automotive industry with General Motors during the 1980s – was leaving the company “at his own request” after disagreements over Volkswagen’s strategy in the newly created North America Region (NAR), which he was to lead from November 1.

The company admitted in the statement that “differing views on the organisation of the new group region have led to this decision” but added that “this decision is expressly not related to current events on the issue of diesel engines”.

It did not elaborate.

“In the last 25 years, Prof Vahland made a great contribution to the company. We respect his decision and thank him for his exceptional performance,” Mr Mueller said.

Under the reorganisation, the US, Canadian and Mexican markets are to be combined and “significantly strengthened” under the single NAR umbrella.

While Porsche sales and marketing chief Bernhard Maier was named incoming chairman of Skoda, Prof Vahland was to take on the NAR role and become a member of the Volkswagen brand board of management in the process.

Overseas reports indicate that he was also in the frame, along with Mr Mueller, to become global chief executive when the scandal broke last month, replacing Martin Winterkorn who stepped down as a result.

Volkswagen Group of America president and CEO Michael Horn, who in testimony last week at a US congressional hearing blamed individual software engineers for installing the diesel emissions defeat device rather than the company, was to have reported directly to Prof Vahland under the new management structure.

Prof Vahland, 58, joined the Volkswagen Group in 1990, having spent much of the previous decade at General Motors’ European division Opel in Germany, working his way up from project analyst of European investments to head of manufacturing strategy review across the region.

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At VW, he joined as director of controlling for Audi AG, moving to director of group controlling for the entire VW Group in 1993. Two years later, he added responsibility for sales co-ordination of the group and was also the regional sales chief for VW throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.

In 1997, Prof Vahland relocated to Brazil as finance executive director of Volkswagen’s operations there, and within a year rose to vice-president for finance and corporate strategy.

In 2002, he was appointed member of the board of management of Skoda Auto, and a year later was promoted to vice-chairman.

In 2005 he took over group responsibility as president and CEO of Volkswagen in China, where he played a key role in implementing a new strategy for the company in world’s biggest auto market. At this point he had also become a global vice-president of Volkswagen AG.

He was subsequently appointed chairman of Skoda in 2010, and under his leadership the Czech brand has, according to the company, implemented “the largest growth and model campaign in the brand’s history and positioned Skoda sustainably as a successful international high-volume brand”.

Prof Vahland’s resignation came as the Volkswagen brand board of management, of which he had become a member (under CEO Herbert Diess), announced a number of further strategic decisions, including a “reorientation” of its diesel strategy in North America and Europe using only “the most advanced technologies”.

Also on the list is the development of a standardised electric architecture for passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles, with the next-generation Phaeton flagship to be offered with a full-electric powertrain.

Facing massive costs with a global recall involving more than 11 million vehicles affected by the diesel emissions cheat scandal, the company also announced that it will reduce its investments by around €1 billion ($A1.6b) per year, and that its cost-cutting “efficiency program” is to be “accelerated”.

By Terry Martin

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