Currently reading: Vauxhall targets former VW China chief

Former head of Volkswagen's Chinese operations is poised to take over at the top of Vauxhall/Opel

High ranking Volkswagen manager, Karl-Thomas Neumann, is set to be appointed Vauxhall/Opel chairman, according to German media reports.

Citing comments from internal Opel sources, the Financial Times Deutschland reports Neumann, former head of Volkswagen’s vast Chinese operations, has been tipped to take the top job at General Motors’ financially embattled European operations from mid-2013.

Neumann, whose current Volkswagen contract includes an anti-competition clause that prohibits him from joining Opel/Vauxhall sooner, would replace interim chairman Stephen Girsky.

“Neumann as boss would be good for Opel. He has the credentials that we need,” an Opel board member told the Financial Times Deutschland.

Officials from Opel/Vauxhall's headquarters in Russelsheim, Germany, would not comment on the media reports when contacted by Autocar.

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