Woebcken Confirmed as VW’s CEO for North America

Volkswagen AG has officially made Hinrich Woebcken president CEO of Volkswagen Group of America. He has been interim CEO since VW fired Michael Horn from the job in March.

Woebcken will continue as VWGA’s chairman. He was named to that job in January to succeed Winfried Vahland, the former head of VW Group’s Skoda brand. Vahland was appointed just as VW’s diesel cheating scandal surfaced. He withdrew three weeks later, well ahead of his Nov. 1 start date.

Horn was well-liked by U.S. dealers for his straight talk. But he reportedly clashed frequently with VW senior managers about how to run the company’s American operations.