Kevin Rose swaps Audi for VW Germany role

Audi UK head Kevin Rose is leaving to take up a senior marketing position with Volkswagen in Germany. He will move to the group’s headquarters in Wolfsburg within weeks.

Rose, who has been director of the UK operation for almost six years, will be replaced although Volkswagen Group UK chairman Robin Woolcock will oversee his role in the interim.

Rose, a former Audi UK marketing director, moved to Audi from Seat UK, where he was also director, in 1999. He replaced Dermot Kelly, who was poached by rival Mercedes-Benz.

He was involved in Audi’s separation from Volkswagen in the mid-Nineties, the integration of the Seat brand into the Volkswagen Group and the recent growth of the Audi marque in the UK.

Rose, who joined Volkswagen in 1978, works closely with marketing director Gary Savage and has overall responsibility for Audi’s £16.4m advertising budget. The marque’s advertising is handled by Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

Audi is working to improve its image this year, aiming to make it better than BMW or Mercedes. It has already launched the new A4 and it will also introduce the RS4 and A6 Avant this year. The Q7 utility vehicle will be launched at the end of the year.