The previous boss of the Rüsselsheim car manufacturer Opel, Michael Lohscheller, is moving to Vietnam.
In the private conglomerate Vingroup, he is to head the Vinfast Global auto division, as the company announced on its website on Tuesday.
The first Vietnamese car brand is pursuing ambitious goals with electric vehicles on the world market and has set up a highly automated production facility.
Lohscheller is CEO of Opel until August 31. In mid-July, he surprisingly announced his departure from this position. He had initially worked as the company's CFO and moved to the top in 2017. Under his leadership, the brand with the lightning bolt, as a subsidiary of the Peugeot parent company PSA, has returned to profitability after 19 years of losses. Lohscheller puts the operating profit of the past three years at 2.5 billion euros. "After more than nine years at Opel / Vauxhall, after four years as CEO and a very successful turnaround, it is time for me to break new ground - now that a new chapter is starting at Opel," he announced in mid-July .
Uwe Hochgeschurtz will now play a major role in this chapter. He will take the place of the 52-year-old Lohscheller on September 1st. In contrast to his predecessor, the former Ford manager is considered a salesman. Under him, the company should continue on the path taken by Lohscheller. Opel's expansion to China and Japan is on the agenda. Opel has been expanding its presence abroad since 2018. Turkey is the largest export market. In the first half of the year, Opel achieved 50 percent more sales abroad than a year ago.
With the job change, Lohscheller rises from the PSA brand boss to the head of a globally oriented manufacturer that wants to attack the American car maker Tesla in particular. The largest shareholder in the Vingroup is the billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong. Three electric SUVs have been announced for the current and the coming year, and the company is already producing electric buses and scooters. Lohscheller is to drive the expansion in North America and Europe. He is attracted by the growth opportunities, he is quoted in the message.