Shanghai Volkswagen Loses Top Managers In Freak Accident
Shanghai Volkswagen, the joint venture between China’s SAIC and Volkswagen, lost its General Manager and three other people in a road accident in Jiuquan, southwestern China’s Gansu province, AFP reports.
SVW’s General Manager Liu Jian lost his life along with the driver of the car, Public Relations Director Zeng Jialin, and an unnamed after-sales manager. All had attended the signing conference of a new SVW factory in Jiangsu,
The people were on their way to a dealer meeting in Jiuquan when their Volkswagen Tiguan collided head-on with a heavy dump truck from a construction site.
Shanghai VW has dispatched an emergency team to Jiuquan for investigation.
Liu Jian, age 46, entered Shanghai VW in 1986 after he graduated from Shanghai Tongji University. He became general manager of the joint venture in October 2007.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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1) psarhjinian, they are not senior enough. Try VW CEO + president + chairman + CFO ... 2) Accident happens. Safety, contrary to what VW claimed, didn't happen this time. 3) They probably didn't use seat belts.
Thats pretty sad, it takes many yrs to train someone to move up. In Middle Kingdom folks drink pretty heavy & hard ( fuel grade 100 proof ) in all social functions. Hope the driver was not in the party. But is too late to figure out now.
Considering the numerous China car wreck videos supplied to us by Bertel illustrating the high percentage of poor drivers in China (underlined by Bertel's own refusal to drive in China), statistically, it was bound to happen to someone "important." I wonder if the car's driver had the most experience.
Reports are they were travelling at 220kmh, so 100kmh above China's max speed limit.