The recent game of senior management musical chairs being played between the automotive brands has made yet another move – Volkswagen of America has hired Maserati North American CEO Mark McNabb as its COO.
McNabb is tasked with overseeing U.S. sales for VW as they aim to double North American sales by 2018. VW moved into the top 10 in U.S. sales last year by selling over 400,000 vehicles, more than double its 2009 volume.
“It’s about continuing to manage and drive the growth of the business here in the U.S. and manage the added complexity that comes with that growth,” said Jonathan Browning, CEO of Volkswagen of America in a statement to Automotive News.
McNabb (no relation to the author) has a respectable resume of management positions with both General Motors and Nissan before taking the reigns at Maserati. While at GM, he was the head of Cadillac and also led the search for buyers for Saab and Hummer after GM’s bankruptcy. Before that, he spent 20 years working his way up the corporate ladder at Nissan and Infiniti to become the vice president of sales and marketing.
Maserati is filling McNabb’s open position with Robert Graczyk who was Chrysler’s director of sales for the Asia Pacific region. Graczyk isn’t technically changing companies, as Maserati and Chrysler are both under the Fiat umbrella.
