Dr. h.c. Thomas Faustmann (52), currently managing director of AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. in Győr, Hungary, will take over as director of the Audi plant in Neckarsulm on October 1. Faustmann will succeed to Fred Schulze (48), who will become director of the main Audi plant in Ingolstadt. There, Schulze will succeed to Peter Kössler (56) in the position of plant director. In turn, Kössler will take over Faustmann’s current position as managing director of Audi Hungaria.
Bringing valuable knowledge to new places, sharing expertise and experience, and continually growing those resources – those are the reasons for the personnel changes stated Prof. Dr. Hubert Waltl, Audi Board of Management Member for production. “We will only remain mobile and capable of moving things forward when we expand our horizons and think beyond our own boundaries,” explained Waltl.
He thanked Fred Schulze for his commitment in Neckarsulm, saying that Schulze had played a major role in the development of the Audi plant in Neckarsulm. “During his nearly four years as plant director, Neckarsulm has strengthened its position as the Audi plant with the highest degree of model complexity. During Schulze’s period of office, it was the first plant of the Volkswagen Group to take first place in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study 2013 in Europe and Africa. In addition to successful model changes, Fred Schulze continued the expansion of the Audi site with pioneering structural projects,” stated Waltl. “In 2014 for example, we opened Audi Böllinger Höfe with the ultra‑modern R8 factory and a new logistics center.”
On the future director of the Neckarsulm plant, Dr. h.c. Thomas Faustmann, Waltl stated: “Like Fred Schulze, he has been at the Volkswagen Group for more than 20 years. In his previous position in Győr, he developed Audi Hungaria into the world’s biggest engine producer, and in the production of automobiles he successfully mastered the transformation into a plant with full manufacturing functions.”