New Volkswagen Ireland boss
Himmer will move to Ireland from Germany, where is head of group sales strategy.
It will be interesting to see if he continues the company’s controversial practice of pre-registering vehicles.
He was CEO for Eastern Europe and for Russia/CIS with MAN Truck & Bus, and, prior to joining Volkswagen, he was managing director with Volvo Trucks, in the Balkans and Latvia, and deputy MD of Volvo Trucks in Russia.
Himmer is from Denmark and was an officer in the Danish Army, before joining the diplomatic service. He worked for Dandy, in both operational and HR roles, before transitioning to the automotive industry. He studied in Denmark, England, and Switzerland for an MBA and an international business degree.
“I am delighted to be coming to Ireland at an exciting time for the Irish car market,” said Himmer. “It is evident that there has been a lot of hard work done up until now, through a challenging period, but I hope, together with the brand teams, we can enhance Volkswagen’s market position even further and continue strong growth in 2015 and beyond. I am also particularly looking forward to settling in Ireland in the new year.”
Volkswagen Group Ireland currently has 26% market share from the passenger-car brands of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Seat. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has 23% market share of the light commercial-vehicle segment.
