- Martin Sander takes over the Management Board position on July 1, 2024
- Imelda Labbé is leaving the company for personal reasons as part of a retirement plan
- Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer: “With Martin Sander, we are gaining an experienced sales expert, a proven leader with many years of experience in the automotive industry and in the Volkswagen Group.”
Martin Sander will become the new Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars on July 1, 2024. He succeeds Imelda Labbé, who has headed the department for the past two years. Sander is moving from the Ford Motor Company to Wolfsburg and will report directly to Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer.
Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer: “With Martin Sander, we are gaining an experienced sales expert, a proven leader. Martin can look back on many years of experience in the automotive industry and in the Volkswagen Group and will provide new momentum to sustainably position the Volkswagen brand’s sales organization for the future. With his know-how and his knowledge of the international markets, he will set strategic priorities, particularly in the marketing and after-sales business. His predecessor on the Board of Management, Imelda Labbé, has increased market share since 2022 with her outstanding sales expertise and has also given Volkswagen back its reneowned brand image in advertising. With the Energize project, Labbé and her team have also made a significant contribution to the repositioning of the Volkswagen brand. Imelda Labbé has provided important momentum in the realignment of the brand for the future. I have great respect for her commitment and her achievements and wish Imelda all the best for the future.”
Martin Sander was most recently Chairman of the Board of Management of Ford-Werke GmbH and General Manager Ford Model e for Ford of Europe. He was responsible for the development of electric vehicles as well as the development of software and services for connected vehicles for Ford in Europe.
The graduated engineer Martin Sander can look back on a 25-year career in the automotive industry. He has held a number of different management positions at Audi AG in North America and Europe. These include positions as Senior Vice President of Sales for Europe, Germany, Americas and the UK.
Born in Hildesheim, he studied mechanical engineering and graduated from the Technical University of Braunschweig with a degree in engineering (TU).
Imelda Labbé has more than 35 years of experience in the international automotive industry. From 1986 to 2013, she held international management positions at Opel and General Motors (GM) – including as Opel Head of Quality at the Antwerp plant and as Opel Head of Sales for the German market. In 2013, she moved to the Volkswagen Group as Spokeswoman of the Board of Management of ŠKODA AUTO Germany. In summer 2016, she took over as Global Head of After Sales at the Volkswagen Group and was most recently responsible for Business Development at Volkswagen AG. From March 2022 until her appointment to the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand in May 2022, Labbé was Spokeswoman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen OTLG. She holds a degree in business administration and a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University.
