VW Commercial Vehicles
10.07.2018
T homas Sedran was previously responsible for corporate strategy in the VW Group. Scholz ends his job at his own request. He takes up the post at the right time: Volkswagen and Ford intend to cooperate in the construction of vans. The group's supervisory board recently gave the go-ahead for talks with the second largest automaker in the United States. “The talks are only just beginning,” can be heard from the company. The aim of this alliance will be to share development and production costs. More far-reaching cooperation is also conceivable. Different thinking models are circulating about this.
VW I.D. Buzz also comes as Cargo
In the background, the VW Group had some ambiguities as to under which roof the planned I.D. Buzz should be developed and accounted for. The I.D.-vehicle family is part of the responsibility of the Volkswagen brand. The decision to develop the Bulli with electric drive for series production in 2022 with a range of around 600 kilometers has already been made. However, according to insiders, the next and therefore seventh generation of the VW Transporter (T7) will also be developed as a battery-electric vehicle. So there was a risk of double developments again.
With the head of strategy Thomas Sedran, an experienced manager at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is now involved in the trickery game, who is very likely to be responsible for I.D. Buzz and a planned commercial vehicle offshoot called I.D. Buzz Cargo gets. The cargo variant with electric drive is primarily suitable for inner-city delivery traffic. The driving bans in the inner cities of Europe are getting closer and closer. This is why tradespeople, delivery services and municipalities are also increasingly having to think in terms of e-vehicles. “The municipalities are putting a lot of pressure on,” says corporate circles.
The VW T7 should roll out to its diverse customers as early as 2020 - and be a completely new vehicle: with safety and assistance systems similar to those of a mid-range vehicle of the same brand In no way inferior, and with the same connectivity that car customers are already demanding today. The BEV drive should make the start; other types of drive are added, just as the demand demands.
Sedran has a doctorate in economics and worked as a management consultant from 1988 to 2012 - including for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, where he worked for Automotive Competence until 2006 Center bore global responsibility. He then headed the automotive industry division of the management consultancy as Managing DirectorAlixPartners in Munich. In 2012 Sedran was appointed to the Board of Management of Adam Opel AG for Strategy and Operations and Interim CEO; from July 2013 he was President and Managing Director responsible for the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands in Europe.
2015 Volkswagen became Head of Group Strategy, and in 2017 he also took over the management of the General Secretariat of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.
Eckhard Scholz has a doctorate in engineering and joined the Volkswagen Group in 1991. From 1996 to 2007 he held various management positions in the technical development of the Volkswagen brand in Wolfsburg, most recently as head of body development. In April 2007, Scholz was appointed to the Skoda management team as Chief Development Officer. In September 2012, Scholz moved to the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand as Spokesman for the Brand Board of Management and Board Member for Development. With effect from July 2014, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand.
