Volkswagen Group Chooses Sanz To Tackle Diesel Scandal

by Cameron Aubernon

December 9th, 2015 3:28 PM

volkswagen group chooses sanz to tackle diesel scandal

There’s a whole lotta shaking going on at Volkswagen’s boardroom, with two new members coming in and one set to oversee the ongoing diesel scandal.

Via press release, the parent company announced Wednesday the arrivals of VW veteran Ralf Brandstätter and Skoda’s Dr. Frank Welch to the namesake brand’s Board of Management. Welch will succeed Heinz-Jakob Neusser — suspended from his post since September 2015 — as the Board Member for Development, while Brandstätter replaces Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz as the brand’s Board Member for Procurement.

However, Sanz isn’t going anywhere. According to Automotive News Europe, he’s still the head of VW Group procurement, a post held since 2002 when the company post was added to his brand procurement duties, but will now oversee the ongoing diesel scandal in addition to the group post.

VW AG also appointed German steelmaker Dillinger Huette CEO Karlheinz Blessing to head up personnel. Blessing will replace the recently retired Horst Neumann, and will receive a five-year contract.

The company said Neusser is available to take on other responsibilities as needed by the company.

All changes are effective immediately.

#FranciscoJavierGarciaSanz #FrankWelch #Heinz-JakobNeusser #KarlheinzBlessing #RalfBrandstatter #Volkswagen #VwDieselScandal

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Callmeishmael on Dec 09, 2015

Deck chairs, Titanic...

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- Brettc on Dec 09, 2015
  
  Shuffling executives at GM has mostly worked, which is shocking. But of course they have some vehicles people in the US want to buy (aka trucks), unlike VW. They also offer insane incentives, which VW should be doing for the next couple of years. I still can't believe how badly VW was/still is handling this event.
  
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- SCE to AUX on Dec 09, 2015
  
  Some of these stories lead me to believe they get it, while others make me think they don't. The problem is that there is a certain 'fog of war' with Volkswagen right now. Not everything we hear from them is as penitent as we want, and not everything is correct. Some of the 'bad news' is really minor, and I have no way of knowing how significant these personnel changes are. However, if they survive, I still believe it will be as a much-diminished player in the US market. VAG's 3% market share in the US could fall to half of that, or worse, simply due to the collateral damage from this scandal.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Dec 10, 2015
  
  @SCE to AUX Some here seem to think people will forget all about this diesel issue and return to normal buying practices 6 months or so after the scandal is finished. I'm not so sure, if only because this was so intentional. The GM ignition lock thing was intentional too, but it seems in a less serious way, somehow.
  
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Roberto Esponja on Dec 10, 2015

Just as an FYI, Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz's actual last name is Garcia-Sanz. Spanish custom is for you to receive your father's last name and your mother's maiden name. As an example, Barack Obama's mother is Ann Dunham. So in Spanish countries, his name would be Barack Obama-Dunham, although the hyphen is often not used. Barack Obama's mother's maiden name would not transfer to his children, however. In the case of their children, Barack Obama's and Michelle Robinson's daughters would have Obama-Robinson as their last name. Acknowledging your mother's maiden name is not obligatory, however. You can identify yourself as John Doe or John Doe-Smith, if you wish.

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Guilherme_m_veroneze on Dec 10, 2015

Not even Olivia Pope could handle such a scandal... :-D

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Jasper2 on Dec 11, 2015

Here's the answer: transfer some GM executives to VW and some VW executives to GM. This will work to solve all emissions and starter switch problems. GM and VW guarantee that it will. I believe them totally. Yes I do.

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