Volkswagen has appointed Hinrich J. Woebcken as head of its North American region assuming responsibility over all activities of the brand. He will assume the position on April 1.

Woebcken becomes chairman of the Volkswagen Group of America, Volkswagen Mexico, and Volkswagen Group Canada. Michael Horn remains president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America.

Prior to joining Volkswagen, Woebcken was a member of the executive board and chief executive of commercial vehicle systems division at Knorr Bremse AG. In 2004, he joined the BMW AG, first as division manager technical purchasing and later on as division manager purchasing vehicle contract manufacturing, raw materials management, indirect purchasing. He was subsequently appointed division manager driving dynamics (purchasing, production, development/process chain) for all BMW Group product lines.