The Sales division at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is making several new senior management appointments in Germany and in the South America Region. Achim Schaible, previously Head Sales International, takes over as Head After Sales & Dealer Network at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand effective September 1st. He succeeds Peter Maiwald, who retired on June 1st. Thomas Zahn, currently President & CEO Volkswagen Argentina S.A., takes over from Schaible as Head Sales International. Zahn’s successor is Thomas Owsianski, currently President Audi China.
Achim Schaible (50) holds a degree in business administration and has been with the Volkswagen Group since November 2014. He was named Head of Sales International in 2017, having previously held the post of Managing Director at Volkswagen Group Polska. Prior to joining the Volkswagen Group, he held several senior management posts in Sales at Renault, including Managing Director Retail Hamburg, Director Sales, Board Member Sales Renault Germany and – following a term as Director Sales Mid Europe at General Motors – as Chief Executive Officer Renault Germany from 2009 to 2014.
Thomas Zahn (52) trained as a forwarding agent and holds a degree in business engineering. He joined Volkswagen in 1997. He headed various central sales functions at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg and was Head of Sales at both FAW-Volkswagen in Changchun and SAIC-Volkswagen in Shanghai. Zahn subsequently held responsibility for the Volkswagen brand’s business in Germany as Head of Sales and Marketing Germany. He is currently President & CEO of Volkswagen Argentina S.A.
Thomas Owsianski (52) is an economics graduate. He began his career as a graduate trainee in Sales & Marketing at Ford in Cologne. He held several senior management posts in Sales with Ford and General Motors in Germany and abroad, and moved to join ŠKODA as Head of Marketing in 2012. He was appointed Executive Director with responsibility for Sales and Marketing at the ŠKODA brand in Shanghai, China, in 2014, and became Vice President Sales and Marketing at VW do Brasil, Brazil, in 2016. He was also named First Executive Vice President South America in 2017. He took up the position of President Audi China in Beijing in 2018.
Peter Maiwald (58) is an economics graduate and joined Volkswagen as a trainee in the central education department in 1987. Following various senior management posts at SEAT Deutschland and Volkswagen, Maiwald was appointed Managing Director of the Retail Deutschland GmbH sales company in 2006. He took up the position of Head After Sales & Dealer Network at the Volkswagen brand in 2015.
SOURCE: Volkswagen
