Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA) this month welcomed a new production director at its Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape.
Marc Stephan succeeds Ulrich Schwabe, who led Polo and Polo Vivo production at Kariega from April 2021 to July this year.
Stephan joins the company from the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau, Germany, where he served as production head.
In this role, he led the plant’s transformation in becoming Volkswagen first fully electric vehicle manufacturing facility, producing models such as the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5, Audi Q4 e-tron and Cupra Born.
During his career, Stephan has held various positions in Volkwagen’s operations in Wolfsburg, Chattanooga and Pamplona.
He holds an engineering and economics qualification and brings more than 20 years of experience gained within the Volkswagen group.
In his new role at VWGA he now takes on the responsibility of leading the start of Tengo production – Volkswagen’s third model to be built at Plant Kariega – developing the plant for future models, and further expanding Volkswagen’s African production network.
“On behalf of the board of management, I would like to thank Ulrich Schwabe for his dedicated service and significant contribution to VWGA,” says VWGA chairperson and MD Martina Biene.
“Uli played a pivotal role in expanding our manufacturing footprint across Africa and bolstering our environmental sustainability initiatives. Under his leadership, Plant Kariega also achieved a record production volume of 167 084 vehicles in 2024.”
VGWA’s Kariega plant is the sole exporter of the Polo for the European and Asia-Pacific regions, exporting to 38 countries, in addition to manufacturing the Polo Vivo for the local market.
In addition to its South African operations, VWGA is also responsible for the sub-Saharan Africa region, and has assembly facilities in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana.
Irma Venter
www.engineeringnews.co.za