Škoda have chosen Thomas Schaefer as their new leader; he’s formerly the Volkswagen Group’s head in South Africa.
Schaefer replaces Bernhard Maier, who left at the end of July after nearly five years in charge.
Schaefer, a mechanical engineer, started his automotive career with Daimler in 1991, holding management positions in production and quality in Germany, the U.S., and South Africa until 2002. He then worked for DaimlerChrysler in Malaysia until 2005, when he moved to Daimler in Germany, working in the emerging-markets operations business field.
He moved to VW Group in 2012 and was named chairman and managing director of VW Group South Africa in 2015, responsible for group brands in the sub-Saharan Africa region.