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August 20, 2007 www.autonewseurope.com · PAGE 15 Eurostars 2007 Industry heroes

With so many success stories around, picking the best in the auto industry is never easy. But that’s what the editors and reporters of Automotive News Europe do when they sit down to make their annual Eurostar selections. This year’s 16 winners have grown their businesses, made smart strategic moves, found innovative ways to lower costs or improved key technologies.Congratulations to all our 2007 Eurostars! After fixing , is back Wiedeking takes on VW Luca De Meo spent little time talking about the new ’s highlights It has all the ingredients of an epic novel: a family dynasty, bold when the car was launched July 5 business deals and, of course, fast cars. At the center of the in Turin. action is Porsche CEO and Supervisory Board He only briefly Member . underlined With Wiedeking’s guidance, Porsche secured a one- Car division CEO strengths such third stake in for €5 billion. As Luca De Meo as the 500’s low VW’s largest shareholder, Porsche now has a Fiat Automobiles CEO emissions and say in VW’s future. The move also makes Age: 40 that it likely will a hostile takeover of VW less likely. be the safest VW’s stock has almost doubled since minicar in Europe. Porsche bought its stake – a step mas- “Everyone already knew everything about terminded by Wiedeking, according to the product, so I wanted to explain what , who is head of the the new 500 means for us: Fiat is back – and Porsche-Piëch family. there is more to come,” De Meo said. “Wiedeking came to us Group CEO The former Renault and executive has with the idea. Porsche is restored Fiat’s credibility with the successful successful but builds only Wendelin Wiedeking launches of the Grande Punto and Bravo. He also 100,000 cars a year. We Porsche CEO has made dealers happy by implementing a pro- need a partner to share Age: 54 gram that allows them to upgrade their stores development costs,” he using affordable but fashionable furniture from told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Ikea. A dealer saves as much as 40 percent com- July 29. VW watchers are keen to see if pared with Fiat’s previous showroom standards. Wiedeking can work some of the magic These victories are nice, but the energetic De Meo he has shown at Porsche on the Wolfs- already is focused on the next goal. burg-based auto giant. “With the C X-over, which debuts in 2009, we will An engineering and production special- begin a new cycle of volume growth driven by creative ist, Wiedeking became Porsche CEO in new products,” he said. 1993. At the time, the sports car maker The C X-over must be innovative both in design and was vulnerable to predators and heavily package to lure crossover customers to Fiat, which reliant on its 911 model, sold alongside does not offer such a model now. the aging 968 and 928 coupes. De Meo arrived at Fiat group five years ago as marketing Today, Porsche makes three successful director at . He was soon head of the brand. In Sep- models and is set for its 13th straight tember 2004, De Meo was promoted again. Fiat group year of rising earnings. CEO Sergio Marchionne put him in charge of the compa- Part of Wiedeking’s success has been to ny’s future. De Meo would lead Fiat brand, which repre- broaden the brand’s appeal without sents about 75 percent of Fiat Group Automobiles’ stretching it beyond its breaking point. total sales. For example, despite fears it wouldn’t fit Photo: ddp “At just 37, I did not feel ready for such a chal- the marque’s sporty image, the Cayenne lenging job,” De Meo says. “But Marchionne premium SUV became, for a time, the backbone said he would help me when needed. And for- of Porsche’s business in the US. tunately, he did.” Wiedeking hopes the 2009 addition of Porsche’s fourth model line, the Panamera coupe-like sedan, will provide as much of a boost as the Cayenne.

Desforges expands her purchasing empire

Odile Desforges has been expanding her purchasing power. from 30 percent in 2001. The launch of the low-cost Logan, which Renault produces in Desforges, who took charge of RNPO in 2003, is responsible for emerging markets such as Romania, India and Russia, has most of that increase. helped her find valuable new suppliers. The latest addition to RNPO’s scope was tertiary goods, such as “In the future, India will play a huge role,” she said recently. communications and the organization of events. Now 22 percent of the components that go to Renault’s west- The combined purchasing leads to significant cost reductions, ern European plants come from low-cost countries, she says. In Desforges says. Each time a family of goods is added to RNPO the 2009, the sourcing from low-cost countries will increase to overall cost of the goods falls by 0.5 percent. between 40 percent and 50 percent. Desforges joined Renault in 1981. She was a product engineer Desforges also is expanding the reach of the Renault Nissan Pur- for the R19 and the upper-medium range until she moved to chasing Organization, which was the first joint venture Renault purchasing in 1986. and Nissan established, after they formed their alliance in 1999. Since 2003, Desforges has belonged to Renault’s 27-member RNPO now handles 83 percent of the carmakers’ purchasing, up management committee.

Purchasing executive Odile Desforges Renault senior vice president, purchasing; chair- man Renault Nissan Purchasing Organization Age: 56 In partnership with AN_070820_15_18.qxd.ps 15.08.2007 11:11 Uhr Page 16

PAGE 16 · www.autonewseurope.com August 20, 2007 Eurostars 2007 Wester pursues Maier polishes perfection Mercedes’ image

Fiat’s Harald J. Wester refuses to slow When Dieter Zetsche took control of DaimlerChrysler and Mer- down. cedes Car Group two years ago, he had one message: Fix the “We took 18 months to put the Fiat Bravo image of Mercedes-Benz. on the market and we did that without Customer satisfaction scores in Europe were falling. Sales were building a single prototype. This is our sluggish. And technical and quality problems had created benchmark, but we will continue doing image problems. things even faster,” Wester said. Zetsche needed a solution. Fiat did not need prototypes because “The star has scratches,” Zetsche it relied on virtual engineering, which told the German press last year. is one of Wester’s specialties. Klaus Maier has provided Advertising Wester has Fiat bringing cars to market the polish. executive faster than ever before because that is Timed to coincide with the Klaus Maier what Fiat Group Automobiles CEO Sergio launch of the C class – Mercedes’ Mercedes Car Group executive vice Marchionne wants. But Marchionne is not most important model in terms president for sales and marketing satisfied with speed alone. He wants Fiat’s of sales volume – Maier’s new Age: 53 cars to be safer and less polluting than ever. advertising program centered on Marchionne picked Wester to lead the one word: Appreciation. group’s engineering and design because The goal of the Appreciation campaign he knows the German native tirelessly was to rebuild the image of the brand, pursues perfection. making it more elegant, valued and Said Wester: “With the new Fiat 500, we are authentic. Pillars of the campaign were at the forefront in safety and low emissions, service, comfort, value and safety. but this is just the starting point. The new Maier delivered a multibrand approach Alfas, , and Maseratis we are that rolled out globally. developing today will be even better.” “We have to be the leader in the premi- A mechanical engineer, Wester um segment,” Maier told analysts late started his career with Volks- Product development last year. wagen in Wolfsburg and later The executive also created a program moved to as program executive that aims to improve customer service manager for special vehicles. Harald J. Wester at every Mercedes dealership in Europe. He also has worked for Fiat Fiat Group Automobiles The program was ambitious. It was group subsidiary Ferrari and chief technical officer thorough. And, in the new post-Daim- Magna Steyr. He rejoined Fiat Age: 49 lerChrysler world, it is a clear sign that, in November 2004. more than ever, Mercedes will need an even clearer brand identity.

VDO purchase shows Lacey boosts GM in Neumann’s vision ‘opportunity’ markets

Guided by his conviction that electronics are the future, Chris Lacey has helped turn central and eastern Europe into a Karl-Thomas Neumann has helped steer Continental sales powerhouse for General Motors. to new heights. GM sales in the region have more than doubled since Lacey Partly because of the 2006 acquisition of Motoro- took over, to 354,000 last year from 154,000 in 2000. la’s electronics unit, the German supplier In the first half, GM sales in his 30-country region rose increased its annual worldwide sales last year 42 percent to 230,113 vehicles from 162,036 during the by 7.6 percent to €14.9 billion. same period last year. The automaker is poised to sell a half Neumann said Continental’s €11.4 billion pur- million cars in his territory, which is larger and more populous chase of Siemens VDO Automotive will boost than western Europe. Continental in crucial growth areas such as Lacey said that most of his region’s economies are more safety technology, telematics and powertrain mature and sophisticated than many believe. systems. “We should stop calling them ‘emerging’ markets,” he Neumann’s belief that Siemens VDO is the said. “I call them ‘opportunity’ markets because perfect fit for Continental shows a strategic that’s what they are.” mind at work. He knows that Continental Lacey and his team have created dealer networks needs to add to its powertrain and electron- for multiple GM marques in countries where private ics expertise. If it sales of vehicles were illegal just two decades ago. does not, it In addition, Lacey has worked with GM Europe’s Supplier division CEO will be impos- manufacturing staff to piece together a collection Karl-Thomas Neumann sible to make of GM plants, joint ventures and contract manufac- Continental Automotive Systems president the massive turing in the region to provide low-cost sourcing. Age: 46 investments The UK native became the first GM executive in in research charge of central and eastern Europe when he took the and development required of a global top job in 2000. He oversees 10 of the 12 countries to join the 5 supplier. EU since 2004, plus Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Balkans Continental’s purchase of VDO creates a and republics of the former Soviet Union in central Asia. mega-supplier with annual sales of about €25 billion. It brings Continental a Emerging market brand big step closer to challenging the indus- trial and inventive might of world leaders executive such as Faurecia, Denso and No. 1 Chris Lacey Robert Bosch. General Motors executive director The desire to be a leader rather than a for central and eastern Europe follower is a Neumann trait. He had the Age: 54 vision to bid on hybrid technology when the German premium establishment dismissed it. Now Continental is having trouble meeting demand for its hybrid expertise.

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August 20, 2007 www.autonewseurope.com · PAGE 17 Eurostars 2007 Tetreault gives 100% Rollier kept Michelin Ford of Europe’s manufacturing chief faces a challenge that most of his competitors would love to have – his plants are running at near maximum capacity to on track after tragedy keep up with sales demand. James Tetreault, a native of Detroit who In just a year as Michelin’s CEO, Michel Rollier has gained credibility joined Ford in 1998 from Chrysler, has in the intensely competitive tire business. overseen the smooth launch of Ford’s Rollier took control of Michelin after his 42-year-old cousin most important vehicle in Europe Edouard Michelin died in a boating accident in May 2006. He had – the redesigned Mondeo been assisting Edouard for one year as part of Michelin’s top upper-medium car. That project Manufacturing executive committee. included launching all three executive Rollier immediately gave the company clear guidelines, saying Mondeo body styles – sedan, James Tetreault that the tire maker’s No. 1 task was to execute the strategy that hatchback and station wagon – Ford of Europe vice president he, Edouard and the rest of the company’s top executives devised at the same time at the assem- of manufacturing while Edouard was alive. bly plant in Genk, Belgium. Age: 52 Rollier aims for an operating margin of 10 percent by Along with launching produc- 2010, compared with 8.2 percent on sales of tion of the new Mondeo, the Genk €16.83 billion in 2006. Michelin’s first-half plant has pioneered two new manu- results showed an operating margin of 9.5 per- facturing techniques for Ford Motor. cent on sales of €8.4 billion. 1. Laser brazing of the joint between “When Michelin talks about cost the roof panel and body side, which reduction, investors listen,” says eliminates the need for trim to cover Gaetan Toulemonde, senior analyst Supplier CEO the joint. with Deutsche Bank in Paris. Michel Rollier 2. A cold metal welding operation “Rollier is a financier, and looks pretty Michelin CEO that attaches the roof panel to the determined.” Age: 62 support bows in a process that To help boost operating profit, Miche- requires the car body to be rotated lin plans to cut costs by between €1.5 billion upside down. and €1.7 billion by 2010. The company start- Those techniques will spread to other Ford ed those cuts last year by closing plants in assembly plants around the world. Nigeria and Canada. Tetreault’s Mondeo project follows the 2006 Rollier wants Michelin to expand further in launches of the new Ford S-Max minivan/sedan China, Brazil and Russia and establish itself in crossover and redesigned Galaxy large minivan – India and Vietnam. both also built in Genk and sharing their platform Although his father, a cousin of former CEO with the Mondeo. Francois Michelin, was part of the company’s Over the past two years, Tetreault has overseen the top executive committee from 1966 to 1991, launch of the face-lifted Ford Fiesta, and he is Rollier is relatively new to Michelin. preparing Ford’s Valencia, Spain, plant for the 2008 He spent most of his career taking care of debut of a redesigned version of the small car. That car finances at French paper manufacturer Ausse- also will be sold in North America. dat-Rey. He joined Michelin in 1996 as legal Tetreault also has been responsible for expanding Ford’s affairs and finance director. He became part manufacturing in St. Petersburg, Russia. In July, Ford of the top executive committee in 2005. announced plans to boost annual capacity there to 125,000 units by 2009 from 72,000 units. That added capacity will let Ford add Mondeo production and increase output of the Focus, which was the top-selling Western car in the country last year. Tetreault also has played a leading role in Ford’s bid to buy the former Daewoo plant in Craiova, Romania.

Van Hooydonk’s flair Under gentleman Paefgen, is booming keeps BMW on top Franz-Josef Paefgen is a gentleman, which is one of the traits required to run one of the world’s most distinguished Not all concept cars have a strong message, but the BMW Con- automakers. But in sharp contrast to his predecessors at cept CS sports sedan certainly does. The star of April’s Bentley, he doesn’t have to rely on these skills to persuade Shanghai auto show proved that the German automaker people to ignore outmoded technology or slipping sales. would continue to offer innovative, captivating design. The Volkswagen group subsidiary now is an engineering The person leading this trend is Concept CS creator Adri- leader, and when it comes to sales, it has raced ahead of an van Hooydonk. the few companies it can call rivals. Until his 2004 appointment as director of design at In 2002, just before Bentley split from its 71-year BMW cars, van Hooydonk was not known as the relationship with Rolls-Royce, the combined com- man behind BMW’s new, sometimes-criticized panies built fewer than 1,400 cars. Under Paefgen, a styling. It was his boss, Chris Bangle, who was given new production record has been set during every credit – or blame – for the radical change year since the split. In 2006, Bentley built more to the brand’s look. than 10,000 cars for the first time in its 88-year But it was van Hooydonk who started a new design history. era at BMW with his work on the 7 series that Paefgen’s bold decision to build the Con- arrived in 2001. Since then, the tinental family has paid off, highly profitable automaker Designer especially in the key North has passed Mercedes-Benz to American market. Last year in be the world’s top-selling lux- Adrian van Hooydonk the US, Bentley sold more than ury brand. One of the main Director of design, BMW cars 4,000 cars, four times Rolls- reasons for the success has Age: 43 Royce’s global total. been the appeal of the concave If anyone ever doubted and convex flame-surfacing design language creat- that a non-Englishman CEO of ultra ed by Van Hooydonk. could run an aristocratic The Dutch native earned a degree in industrial British brand like Bent- luxury brand design from Holland’s Delft Polytechnic University in ley, Paefgen, a German Franz-Josef Paefgen 1988, then continued his studies at the Art Center native, has proved them Bentley CEO College of Design’s campus in Vevey, Switzerland. He wrong. Paefgen-era Age: 61 joined BMW in 1992. Five years later he worked on the Bentleys are less brutish concept that would become the first generation of than the big old models, but BMW’s Mini. In 1999, he delivered the BMW Z9 coupe they are no less British. The concept, which expressed many of the basic principles for cars also benefit from VW BMW’s current design. group content, which Paefgen Since taking his new job in September 2004, van Hooydonk knows is the key to the brand’s has created successful production models such as the 6-series economic viability. coupe and convertible.

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PAGE 18 · www.autonewseurope.com August 20, 2007 Eurostars 2007 Neumann’s work will help Speedy Mingrino will tackle VW challenge Toyota Lancia challenge Horst Neumann has achieved a lot since starting his job less than two When your bosses decide your new project should get to the years ago. market five months faster than the company’s previous car, you Productivity at Volkswagen group’s German plants is expected to rise by 12 are honored and frightened at the same time. percent, or three cars per employee, this year – partly because of measures Honored because such a challenge is a clear recogni- introduced by Neumann. tion of your technical capabilities. The former personnel chief at VW group premium brand Audi has Frightened because if something goes wrong, you reduced hourly wage costs at German VW plants by getting will fail to meet your bosses’ high expectations. the union to agree to a longer workweek for no extra pay. “Actually, I never had much time to Once the highest paid workers in the global auto industry, get scared. We were working hard to get VW employees now earn more per hour than Opel workers the Bravo into production within 18 months but less than those at Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. and everyone was fully dedicated to getting Neumann knows more must his job done properly,” Fabio Mingrino said. be done if VW is to achieve its Human By comparison, Fiat needed aim of catching Toyota. VW 23 months from design freeze to will cut 20,000 jobs by 2013 resources manager start of production for the Grande and Neumann has vowed to Horst Neumann Punto. Project leader find ways to further stream- VW board member, Mingrino met his deadline, but Fabio Mingrino line production. human resources he has had little time to enjoy Fiat Group Automobiles The appointment of the for- Age: 58 the success. vehicle line executive C, mer German union executive Fiat wants the Lancia Delta HPE, L1 platforms to VW’s board was controversial, but Neumann survived which is a derivative of the Bravo Age: 47 the initial opposition and has proved to be a valuable asset. that will offer more special fea- tures, ready by May 2008. That means Mingrino was given a little more than 15 months to go from design freeze to start of production. “We have to be quicker than with the Bravo, and we will be,” he said. Born in Sicily, Mingrino joined Fiat in 1988. In Septem- ber 2004, he was appointed to his current position. He is in charge of the C and L1 platforms. The cars he is responsible for include the Delta HPE, the 147 and Formica invents a GT from as well as the Fiat Stilo, Bravo, new way to sell cars Multipla and Sedici. Andrea Formica has added science to the business of selling cars. Using his employer’s legendary Toyota Production System as a base, the native of Italy developed the Toyota Retail System. “The aim of TRS is to create a problem-solving tool as disci- plined as TPS,” Formica said. “We Porsche, BorgWarner want to ensure that our cus- tomers receive a superior quality retail experience along with their take lag out of turbo superior quality product.” Like the famed production system, contin- The Turbo is fast – it goes from 0 to 100kph in 3.9 seconds, uous improvement, or kaizen, is at the with a top speed of 310kph. Yet it is also rewarding for the driver at core of TRS. Also, both systems demand slower speeds. that problems are solved by teams, The versatility of the 911 Turbo is due in part to a unique collaboration not individuals. between Porsche and BorgWarner Turbo Systems. The principles of TRS were tried at a deal- At the heart of the 911’s performance is the turbocharger – essentially a ership in the Czech Republic last year. pump that pushes more air into the engine for more horsepower. But the The sales principles will be rolled out in turbocharger is driven by exhaust gases – when engine rpms are low, the Slovakia this year. In 2008, the program turbo will not spin fast enough to provide much boost, a condition known will start in the UK, and Spain. as turbo lag. The rest of Europe follows by 2010. Porsche and BorgWarner have overcome that weakness with the VTG, which TRS is an important part of Formica’s is an acronym for variable turbo geometry. The system uses a series of strategy to retain and strengthen Toyota’s small, moveable blades inside the turbocharger. At low engine rpms, sales growth. the blades are turned to force more of the exhaust gas onto the Under his leadership, the Japanese carmaker turbine to bring it up to speed quicker. has continued to increase sales in Europe. In It sounds simple, but it was tricky to July, Toyota and engineer, said Hans-Peter Sales and marketing Lexus reported Schmalzl of BorgWarner European sales of Turbo Systems. executive 661,753 units in Variable vane turbochargers Andrea Formica the first six have been used on diesel Toyota Motor Europe senior vice months of 2007. engines, but the higher temperatures of a gasoline engine caused bigger president marketing, sales and aftersales That was an challenges, Schmalzl said. BorgWarner and Porsche engineers worried Age: 46 increase of that the small moving parts of the turbocharger might stick, or be 14 percent from a damaged by the turbo’s heat. year earlier. The two companies considered a similar technology in the mid-1980s but In the spirit of kaizen, Formica already is think- stopped development because of technical challenges. Encouraged by the ing of ways to further improve the retail system. arrival of new materials developed for aircraft engines, BorgWarner and “Syndicated research in the five main Euro- Porsche revived the project in 2000. The companies worked on the pean markets shows that only one-fifth of the project in parallel, with teams meeting daily. people considering a brand end up purchasing Schmalzl recalled a feeling of relief a model from that carmaker,” Formica said. OEM/Supplier when the first prototype test went “We know a lot about those who end up well. “We really didn’t believe it was choosing our brand. But to improve r&d project going to work,” he said. our efficiency, we need to understand Heinz-Jakob Neußer (left) The technology and partnership were as much as possible about the drivers Porsche head of engine and honored earlier this year with an Auto- of consumer leakage.” development systems motive News PACE award for innova- Formica was with Ford for 13 years before Age: 47 tion and collaboration. Automotive joining Toyota Motor Europe in 2002. He has News is a sister publication of Automo- a master’s degree in business administration Hans-Peter Schmalzl (above) tive News Europe. from Italy’s Bocconi University. BorgWarner Turbo Systems vice Porsche is now looking at other president of technology, applications for the variable turbo Age: 47 geometry. And BorgWarner is look- ing to move the technology into a high-volume application – which will be key to In partnership with helping bring down the cost of the materials.