Volkswagen Group of America's new chief executive, a veteran of General Motors and Ford, is a good pick to help grow the German company's brands in the United States, an auto analyst says.
The selection of Jonathan Browning, who is British but lived in the U.S. on two occasions, also is telling because VW didn't pick a German for the post, said Edmunds.com analyst Jeannine Fallon.
"It's a statement about where their priorities are - the fact they didn't pick a German," she said.
Browning, who holds a master's degree from Duke University, said at a news conference Monday in Washington, D.C., that he wants to improve several areas of VW's U.S. business, including customer satisfaction, its dealer network and used car operations.
VW GOALVolkswagen wants to sell 800,000 VW brand models and 200,000 Audis in the U.S. by 2018.
"We've got a lot of work to do across a number of facets of our business," he said. He starts Oct. 1.
Fallon said Browning will pay a lot of attention to Chattanooga, where VW is building an assembly plant.
"It would be a logical thing for him to pay close attention to get more efficiencies and benefits to have a growing presence in the U.S.," she said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., noted Browning, 51, is an industry veteran.
Corker said the new CEO is "someone who has enough years under his belt to have a track record and yet enough youth to be focusing on those cutting edge technologies that will help Volkswagen meet its market share goals in America."
VW's $1 billion plant in Chattanooga is slated to start production early next year. The plant will make a midsize sedan new to the U.S. market and employ over 2,000 people.
VW aims to triple sales in the U.S., a key cog of its effort to topple Toyota as the world's No. 1 carmaker.
Browning succeeds Stefan Jacoby, who has left the company to head Volvo. Browning is responsible for directing Volkswagen Group's national sales companies globally, joining the company in June.
He was vice president of European sales, service and marketing at the GM Group from 2001 to 2008. He also was GM's vice president of global sales, service and marketing in 2008.
Browning worked for the Ford Group from 1997 to 2001, first as executive director of marketing for Ford Europe and then as the global managing director of Jaguar.
"Volkswagen will play an even stronger role in the important U.S. market going forward," said Christian Klingler, a member of Volkswagen AG's board of management. "Jonathan Browning is an acknowledged expert on this market, its customers and its sales structures."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6318.