Kjell Gruner lasted barely ten months as CEO of Volkswagen Group of America. His replacement, Audi sales chief Marco Schubert, takes over Oct. 1 and will report directly to VW Group CEO Oliver Blume.
The corporate language says Gruner is leaving “to pursue new professional challenges.” That’s the standard exit line. What it doesn’t explain is why VW burned through two North America CEOs in under two years, with Pablo Di Si resigning before Gruner even arrived.
Gruner came from Rivian. Before that, he ran Porsche Cars North America. His hire in late 2024 was supposed to signal VW’s seriousness about the American market, particularly its $5.8 billion joint venture with Rivian to co-develop EV platforms and software.
Now he’s gone, and the Rivian connection at the top of VW’s U.S. operations goes with him.
Schubert is a 25-year VW lifer. He ran Audi’s sales and marketing board seat and oversaw group-wide sales, marketing, and aftersales. He managed Audi’s North Europe region, ran the Swedish operation, and headed Škoda sales across Asia.
Blume called him “a sales professional with a wealth of international experience” and described North America as “the most important growth market for the Volkswagen Group.
That growth market has been shrinking. VW’s U.S. sales dropped 13% year-over-year in 2025. Group profits fell by more than half, hammered by a botched EV rollout and tariff exposure.
In April, VW pulled the plug on ID.4 production at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, effectively retreating from building electric vehicles on American soil.
The broader restructuring makes the leadership churn look almost inevitable. In July, VW announced plans to slash its global model lineup by up to 50% and cut vehicle options by as much as 75%. The automaker is pivoting hard toward high-volume models like the new Atlas full-size SUV, which is expected at U.S. dealers later this year.
Schubert’s appointment is part of a wider executive reshuffle that also covers Škoda leadership and VW’s Africa region, all effective Oct. 1. The simultaneous moves suggest Blume is cleaning house across multiple fronts, not just responding to one market’s problems.
But North America is where the stakes are highest. VW has poured billions into the Rivian partnership, committed to Chattanooga’s future even while killing the ID.4 there, and publicly declared the U.S. its top growth priority. Delivering on any of that requires stability at the top, and stability has been the one thing VW’s American operation cannot seem to produce.
Schubert inherits a dealer network watching inventory pile up, an EV strategy in retreat, and tariff math that punishes imports from Mexico and Europe. He also inherits a product pipeline being radically narrowed and whatever remains of the Rivian relationship’s strategic value now that the executive who bridged those two companies is walking out the door.
Three North America CEOs in roughly two years. Each one arrived with a mandate to transform. Schubert gets his turn in October.
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