Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM) has recently announced that Christoph Aringer (pictured above), who was appointed earlier this year as the Managing Director of VGM, will be stepping down and will be replaced by Armin Keller, effective 1st July 2014. Aringer will be returning to his native Austria due to ‘unanticipated personal circumstances’, and will be returning to Porsche Holding where he is previously from.
During the past 3 years, Keller was the Executive Director for Volkswagen ASEAN sales operations. Mr. Keller brings to Malaysia more than 25 years of Volkswagen senior management roles, including extensive ASEAN and Malaysia sales and marketing experience.
Armin Keller shared, “Malaysia is a strategic market for Volkswagen and I am looking forward with the VGM team to raising the bar of Volkswagen AG’s engagement and continuing our impressive track record in Malaysia.”
Besides the new appointment, Mr. Weiming Soh, Executive Vice-President of Volkswagen AG and President of Commercial Operations Greater China/ASEAN also outlined several strategic initiatives taking place at Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM).
As a part of VGM’s commitment to, and increasing presence in, Malaysia, Mr. Soh announced Volkswagen is following up on previous collaborative discussions with the Malaysian Government to investigate the export of Volkswagen vehicles assembled in Malaysia to meet the growing demand in the region.
Mr. Soh also shared that the on-going VGM dealer network expansion to provide greater accessibility and convenience for our customers in Malaysia, will see the current total of 38 conventional outlets grow to 45 by the end of this year. Moreover, VGM is now pioneering additional strategic and innovative channels such as lifestyle dealerships, Volkswagen brand stores, and potential light-house flagship centers, which are all being actively investigated.
