Johannesburg - Thomas Schafer has been appointed managing director of Volkswagen SA.
He is set to replace David Powels, who has been appointed president of Volkswagen do Brasil.
Powels, who is a chartered accountant, joined VWSA in 1989 in the finance division and later became export manager. He returned to the finance division, heading the controlling division, in 1993.
“This was followed by a foreign assignment in Finance at both Volkswagen AG and Audi AG,” the company said.
“He returned to South Africa in 1998 as finance director, a post he held for four years before becoming vice president finance and corporate strategy at Volkswagen do Brasil in 2002.”
In 2007, Powels returned to South Africa as managing director.
NEW BOSS IS AN ENGINEER
Schafer, who is an engineer, has worked for the Volkswagen Group since 2012 as head of group production, foreign plants.
“He started his working career at Mercedes Benz AG in 1994. No stranger to South Africa, he moved to East London in 1998 in a management role at Mercedes Benz South Africa,” VWSA said.
“In 2002 he moved to Malaysia as the plant manager and remained there until 2005 when he returned to Germany, responsible for the planning of Mercedes production plants.”
During Powels's tenure as managing director of VWSA, the company invested more than R7 billion in plant, product and infrastructure.
The factory was modernised, with the Polo and Polo Vivo introduced in 2010.
“Local content was increased significantly to levels in excess of 70 percent, helped by the establishment of numerous global suppliers in the Nelson Mandela Logistics Park in Uitenhage.”
The appointments take effect from February 2015.
Sapa