VW appoints global marketing boss

Volkswagen has appointed former Mitsubishi Europe president Stefan Jacoby as its top marketer, with responsibility for all the group’s brands.

Jacoby takes a boardroom role that has been vacant since the resignation of Robert Büchelhofer last April, following a spat over strategy with chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder, who has assumed personal control of marketing in the intervening period.

As head of group marketing and sales strategy, Jacoby will oversee the Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Volkswagen brands.

Jacoby joins Europe’s largest car manufacturer at a difficult time. The launch of the fifth version of the core Golf hatchback is widely seen to have been botched, and VW has had to offer discounts in its home market.

The group’s brand strategy of allowing its budget, mainstream and premium brands to share platforms has also been widely questioned, as has the move into luxury cars such as the low-selling Phaeton, which retails for £68,000 under the VW brand.

To restore the company’s performance, Pischetsrieder this week announced a turnaround plan which will see 5,000 non-manufacturing jobs cut worldwide. VW says no jobs will be lost in the UK.

Jacoby resigned from Mitsubishi, which is controlled by DaimlerChrysler, in January after two years with the company. He has worked for VW previously.