#Neumann

Opel sales chief Matthias Seidl

The rebellion of German Opel dealers against a new, complicated and – in the dealers’ views – disastrous distribution system was victorious. Opel’s sales chief Matthias Seidl withdrew the discredited and disdained design. “Dealers succeeded with their demands for a simpler system,” writes Automobilwoche [sub].

Opel’s new CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann isn’t officially CEO yet, and he already is facing a rebellion of his troops. Opel dealers threaten to discontinue the brand if Opel won’t withdraw a new distribution system. The dealers say the system comes from where Neumann and Opel’s sales chief Matthias Seidl come from: From Volkswagen.

Not to anyone’s huge surprise, the Opel Supervisory Board today confirmed former Volkswagen exec Karl-Thomas Neumann as CEO of Opel. To make the job a little more interesting, “General Motors appointed Dr. Neumann president of GM Europe and GM vice president,” as a GM communique says. It continues that Neumann “will become a member of GM’s Executive Committee and is expected to play a key role in the global leadership of GM.”

Industrial-strength theater

Yesterday evening, while yours truly was in seedy Tokyo bars, rubbing shoulders and more with paid informants, word reached us that Opel’s new sales chief Alfred Rieck allegedly threw-in the towel and left Opel in disgust, after only seven months of valiantly trying to move the damaged goods called Opel cars. After a few phone calls to Germany this morning, a different story emerged. Siehe unten.

GM’s troubled European daughter Opel finally will get a more permanent CEO. As rumored since last year, it is the former Volkswagen manager Karl-Thomas Neumann. German Automobilwoche [sub] expects Neumann to be confirmed by Opel’s supervisory board on January 31.

After a rash of interim-CEOs, Opel may have found a more permanent one. It’s the former Volkswagen manager Karl-Thomas Neumann. The successful recruitment was first published by Financial Times Deutschland, the report was quickly confirmed by wire services and major German newspapers.

Karl-Thomas Neumann, Volkswagen’s new Emperor of China, took over his job today. He replaces Winfried Vahland, who now runs Volkswagen’s Skoda division. Neumann has a problem many would like to have. “We can’t build enough cars to meet the demand in China,” Neumann told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Now, if you have nothing to sell, you lose market share, and you really have a problem. Neumann will build. he will build new factories, and …