VWSA sees a change in leadership

Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) recently announced that Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Schaefer, will be moving on from his current role. First introduced into his position in February 2015, Schaefer was quickly given the responsibility for the brand in the whole of Sub Saharan Africa in 2017. Since the expansion of his role, he played an integral part in the growing presence of the Volkswagen brand in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana, and has signed Memorandums of Understanding with the governments of Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Locally Thomas successfully led VWSA to not only remain dominant in the local passenger car market with the brand’s Polo and Polo Vivo offerings, manufactured in Uitenhage, but also successfully increased VWSA’s international exports by 30%. Last year was also filled with achievement under the leadership of Mr Schaefer with the brand not only recording its highest production volume of 161 954 units at its Uitenhage factory but also its highest market-share since 1996 occupying 20.4% of the market.

Thomas Schaefer will be vacating his position as Chairman and Managing Director of VWSA and moving to ŠKODA Auto as the new Global CEO effective 3 August 2020. Dr Robert Cisek (44) will be succeeding Schaefer moving away from his current responsibility of Production Strategy of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand in Wolfsburg. Dr Cisek not only holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich but also a doctorate degree in Industrial Management from the same institution.

Dr Cisek also brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience as he occupied positions such as Head of Industrial Engineering and Head of Press Shop at BMW Group before he joined Volkswagen in 2018. Further bolstering Dr Cisek’s already impressive resume is he stint at McKinsey & Company where he worked with clients occupying the automotive, aerospace and defence, telecommunication and industrial automation sectors, developing on topics such as growth strategy, portfolio optimisation, research and development efficiency and manufacturing excellence.

“My tenure as the MD of VWSA has been the highlight of my career so far. I am immensely proud to have worked for and led such an impactful and good company. Together with my team, we have moved VWSA forward with outstanding production and sales results which have earned our company recognition locally and abroad,” Thomas Schaefer, Global CEO, ŠKODA Auto.