Renault manager Hochgeschurtz takes control of Opel

Michael Lohscheller has just announced that Opel will be fully electrified.

Now he is leaving the Stellantis Group and making room for a successor who comes from the competition.

Rüsselsheim - At the car manufacturer Opel a new boss takes a seat at the wheel.

The previous Germany boss of the competitor Renault, Uwe Hochgeschurtz, is to lead the traditional brand with the lightning bolt from September 1st, as the company announced on Tuesday at its headquarters in Rüsselsheim.

The previous CEO Michael Lohscheller decided to take on a task outside of the Stellantis Group, it said without any further details.

Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares thanked Lohscheller for creating a strong, sustainable foundation for the company together with the Opel employees.

"This impressive turnaround is now paving the way for global expansion of the brand."

The previous Opel CFO Lohscheller came to the helm of the company in 2017 after Stellantis predecessor PSA took over the company from General Motors.

Lohscheller organized the restructuring of the company, during which thousands of jobs were cut without any redundancies.

The three locations in Rüsselsheim, Kaiserlautern and Eisenach remained, while large parts of the development center and the test center in Dudenhofen near Frankfurt were sold.

In a message to the employees on Tuesday, the 52-year-old Lohscheller referred to a cumulative profit of 2.5 billion euros from the past three years.

Under the management of the previous owner General Motors, Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall had only made losses for almost two decades.

"The restructuring was not easy, but there was no alternative," explained the outgoing boss in his message, which was available to the dpa. Opel has downsized and cut jobs to an appropriate level. "And with this we have secured tens of thousands of jobs in the long term - not only in our own company, but also with our trading partners and suppliers." According to company announcements, Opel will appear in Europe as a fully electric brand as early as 2028. Further expansion into international markets including China is also planned.

The new Opel boss Uwe Hochgeschurtz can look back on more than 30 years of professional experience in the automotive business, which he gained at Ford, Volkswagen and Renault. He has worked for the French competitor since 2003 and was most recently head of the sales region Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH). In addition, in June he was confirmed as Vice President of the car importers' association VDIK, of which Opel is not a member. dpa