VW

RALF BRANDSTÄTTER IS THE NEW CEO OF THE VOLKSWAGEN BRAND

The Volkswagen Group is reassigning responsibilities for the direction of the brand and the Group. As of July 1, 2020, the Volkswagen brand will be driven by its former COO, Ralf Brandstätter. Volkswagen Group CEO, Dr. Herbert Diess, who was previously responsible for both functions, will thus have greater freedom to exercise his functions as CEO of Grupo VAG. On the Group's Board of Directors, Brandstätter will retain full responsibility for Volkswagen Passenger Cars and the volume brand group. The objective will be to maintain a more focused focus on high-level tasks in the Group and the brand during the current phase of transformation in the automotive industry.
As new CEO of the Volkswagen brand, Ralf Brandstätter, as of July 1, 2020, he will continue the electric mobility strategies as well as the digitalization of the car, directions built over the past few years.
“Ralf Brandstätter is one of the company's most experienced executives. During the past two years, he has successfully led Volkswagen as a COO and played a key role in the brand transformation project, ”said Volkswagen AG CEO Dr. Herbert Diess. "In this way, I am very pleased to know that Ralf Brandstätter will lead the development of the brand as CEO, following the long-range strategic decisions established in recent years".
After a record year in 2019, the brand is extremely well positioned for the future. Volkswagen successfully completed the first stage of the Transform 2025+ strategy. The company is now entering the next phase. The broad electrical offensive will now become tangible with new vehicles on the roads. Volkswagen is paving the way for zero-emission mobility. By 2025, at least 1.5 million electric cars are expected to be sold. In addition to electrification, the brand will also evolve in digitalization over the next few years.
“For Volkswagen, the path to the future has already been traced. Based on the Transform 2025+ strategy, the brand is becoming one of the leading providers of carbon neutral mobility and on its way to becoming a digital technology company. I would like to thank the entire Volkswagen team for their tremendous dedication. We will definitely follow our route together ”, declared Ralf Brandstätter.
Ralf Brandstätter was born in Brunswick on September 8, 1968. After interning as a facility designer at the Volkswagen plant in Brunswick, he studied industrial engineering and joined the Volkswagen Group in 1993. After serving in leading international projects in the purchasing division, he became an assistant to the Board of Directors at the General Secretariat of Volkswagen AG. In 1998, he became in charge of metal purchases for chassis components and power trains and was appointed as project director for new vehicles in 2003. In 2005, he moved to Spain as head of purchasing for SEAT. The executive became a member of the SEAT Executive Board responsible for procurement in 2008. Brandstätter was appointed Head of External Purchasing for the Group in 2010. He was appointed Head of Purchasing for the New Product Launch Group in 2012 and became General Representative at Volkswagen AG in October 2015. Ralf Brandstätter was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in December 2015. Brandstätter has been the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand since August 1, 2018.

Source: Volkswagen