Michael Lohscheller becomes new VDIK President – André Schmidt is the new Vice President of the VDIK

At the proposal of the Executive Board, an extraordinary general meeting of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK) today elected Michael Lohscheller as the new VDIK President. He will take office on June 12, 2024.

Lohscheller succeeds Reinhard Zirpel, who had already announced in June 2023 that he would not be standing for re-election this year. Zirpel has been President of the VDIK since 2016.

“I am looking forward to my new role and will do my utmost to promote the interests of the 38 international passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturers in Germany,” said Michael Lohscheller, emphasizing: “They sell more than one million passenger cars and over 100,000 commercial vehicles a year in this country and deserve a strong voice.”

Reinhard Zirpel wished his successor every success and a lucky hand and explained: “We are delighted that we have been able to win Michael Lohscheller, an extremely experienced expert and leader in the German and international automotive industry, for the office of VDIK President. This puts the VDIK in an excellent position to successfully face the challenges of the future.”

At the Extraordinary General Meeting, André Schmidt, President of Toyota Deutschland GmbH, was also elected as the new VDIK Vice President to succeed Jürgen Keller. He takes office holding various positions at Jungheinrich, Daimler Chrysler, Mitsubishi Motors and Volkswagen, Michael Lohscheller worked at Opel from 2012 to 2021, first as CFO and then as CEO from then led the Vietnamese car manufacturer VinFast as Global CEO. Most recently, Lohscheller was President & CEO of Nikola Corporation, a US manufacturer of electric and hydrogen trucks, until August 2023.