Page 9 - ATZ WORLDWIDE

MAN | Volkswagen |
New Faces Appointed to the Board
IMPULSES
New appointments were made to key Executive Board
positions at Volkswagen Truck & Bus and MAN Truck & Wolfgang Siebenpfeiffer
Bus, with effect since 1 July. Dr. Carsten Intra assumed Editor in Charge
ATZ | MTZ | ATZelektronik
responsibility at Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH,
MAN SE and MAN Truck & Bus AG as Head of HR from
Josef Schelchshorn, who has left the company. Intra will
© MAN be succeeded on the Board of MAN Truck & Bus AG
by Dr. Frederik Zohm (Research & Development) and
Frederik Zohm Dr. Ullrich Dilling (Production & Logistics).
Free Time

Akasol | Two New Production Sites I went to England again for my holiday this year to
go walking and to visit different parts of the country.
As a result of the growth of its business, the battery system manufacturer Akasol My holiday activities gave me a feeling of freedom.
is significantly expanding its production capacity. It is bringing two additional As a result, I asked myself whether my experience
production sites into operation: one in the German town of Langen, which consists had something to do with the fact that the risks
of manufacturing buildings and offices covering more than 3000 m², and one at involved are within my personal capabilities and,
its headquarters in Darmstadt, where there is a new factory with a floor area of on the other hand, that I had become more self-con-
700 m². In the plant at Langen, which in future will be the company’s largest pro- fident. Our ability to manage our freedom – and our
duction facility, it will be setting up an automated mass production line for auto- cope with live – is linked to our self-confidence and
motive industry components which will come into operation by the end of 2017. self-awareness.
From 2018 onwards, up to 150 employees will be working there producing lithium Another holiday experience was the chance to
ion battery systems for leading European bus manufacturers.
re discover myself. We sometimes lose ourselves
among all the thousands of things that we have
to do every day. We have the feeling that everyone
wants something from us and we are always giving
but rarely getting anything back. I have to admit
© Akasol The Akasol site that I am someone with significant needs. Some-
times we feel as if we have not done anything for
in Langen
ourselves for a long time. Instead, we have let
ourselves become exhausted and then unhappy,
depressed and aggressive. Are we angry with every-
one else because we are constantly so busy?
Volvo | Polestar to Become We should be able to draw our own conclusions from
Independent Brand for Electric Vehicles this insight. I need time and space every day to live
in my own world, to feel free, to understand and
Volvo is expanding its Polestar performance car arm to trust myself and to see myself and my day-to-day
become a new, independent and electrified high-perfor- work in a specific context. I need intellectual stimu-
mance brand. This is the latest step in the Swedish car lation to develop my inner life. And I have to create
maker’s continuing transformation. The position of CEO at this time and space for myself. Other people cannot
Polestar will be assumed by Thomas Ingenlath, who as do it for me. I am the person with the best under-
Senior Vice President for Design played a major role in the standing of what I need and what will do me good.
Therefore, I must act accordingly. We should be
© Volvo renaissance of the brand in recent years. “Thomas Ingen- asking ourselves what makes us happy, because
lath heading up the Polestar organisation shows our com-
Thomas Ingenlath mitment to establishing a truly differentiated, stand- this will free up the resources we need to be happy,
capable and truly alive.
alone brand within the Volvo Car Group,” says Håkan
Samuelsson, President and CEO of Volvo Cars. Volvo has been working together with
Polestar Performance since 1996 and acquired a 100-% share in the company in July
2015. In the future, the company will offer Polestar-branded cars that will no longer
carry a Volvo logo. Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies
with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale, allowing it to design,
develop and build world-beating, high-performance electric cars.
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