Volkswagen has appointed Michael O’Shea as its new head of fleet with immediate effect.

O’Shea, previously national fleet sales manager, replaces Vince Kinner who takes charge of a newly created group fleet function covering Volkswagen’s five main brands – Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen and Volkswagen commercial vehicles.

It is one of a number of internal structural changes which are designed primarily to enhance customer experience through maximising group-wide synergies and reducing duplication in administration and systems development.

Kinner, well known to most people in fleet, will be focusing on consolidating the back office functions that have been independently developed by each of the brands, such as IT, invoicing and contacts database. It should make each brand “simpler to do business with”, according to a spokeswoman.

O’Shea has worked for Volkswagen for 12 years, the last three of which have been within the fleet department.  Prior to his time in fleet, he worked in the product marketing department for more than three years, developing a high level of product knowledge and forging strong relationships between Volkswagen UK and the factory in Wolfsburg, Germany.   

Director of Volkswagen Robert Hazelwood commented on the new appointment, saying: “Michael is extremely well-placed to take over the reins in the Volkswagen Fleet department.  He has a wealth of knowledge and experience which will allow him to develop the company’s sales in this key area in the years to come.  Fleet sales currently make up over half of our total annual volume, and I’m sure Michael will relish the challenge of his new responsibilities.”

O’Shea added: “I’m ready for this new challenge and excited about ensuring Volkswagen customers receive the highest quality products and customer service. I have a great team in place to help me do this and we are absolutely focused on delivering our objectives. Vince has been a great mentor over the past three years and I look forward to continuing to work with him in his new group role.”

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