After five years at the helm of Skoda, 59-year-old Klaus Zellmer is leaving the company to steer Volvo’s future.
21/09/2026 16:30
Updated to
21/09/2026 16:30
The leadership team in Europe’s automotive industry has just made one of its most significant moves. The board of Volvo Cars announced the appointment of Klaus Zellmer as the new president and CEO of the Swedish company, a decision made amid profound transformation for this Gothenburg-based brand.
Zellmer will assume the role by October 1, 2027, leaving more than a year to prepare for the transition. Håkan Samuelsson, the current CEO, will work alongside the board to ensure a smooth transition, according to the company’s own statement.
Over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry
The newcomer to Volvo is not someone new to the industry. Born in 1967, Klaus Zellmer brings over three decades of experience in the automotive sector, with expertise in industrial, commercial, and technological roles at various levels of responsibility. As of July 1, 2022, he serves as the chairman of the board and CEO of Skoda Auto, a brand he has led through a period of significant growth.
Under his leadership, Skoda has become one of Europe’s best-selling car brands, achieving record results in 2025 and continuing to post strong growth figures along with record deliveries of electric vehicles in the first half of 2026. Currently, Skoda is the most profitable brand within the German conglomerate, proving that Zellmer’s business strategy has been successful. His electric vehicle strategy is based on common sense and customers’ free choices.
A journey that includes Volkswagen and Porsche
Before taking charge of Skoda, Zellmer was part of the board of directors at Volkswagen Passenger Cars, where he was responsible for marketing, sales, and after-sales areas. His career dates back even further: he spent over 20 years at Porsche, holding several senior positions, including CEO of Porsche Germany and CEO of Porsche North America.
After graduating with a degree in Business Administration, Zellmer worked for three years starting in 1994 at the Institute of Automotive Economics at the University of Applied Sciences Nürtingen-Geislingen, an academic foundation that complements a profile marked by both business management skills and technical knowledge of the industry.
What Volvo Cars’ president says about the hire
Eric Li, president of Volvo Cars, justified the choice by emphasizing that Zellmer combines a deep understanding of the automotive industry with extensive international leadership experience, along with a proven track record of guiding organizations through transformation processes and changing market conditions. According to Li, his experience in both high-end premium segments and mass-market brands aligns particularly well with Volvo Cars’ current needs.
Zellmer himself expressed satisfaction with the appointment, noting that few automobile brands have built such a solid and enduring reputation in terms of safety by consistently applying this value across the entire mobility sector. Zellmer also highlighted Volvo Cars’ timeless yet contemporary design language, as well as the clarity of its brand identity, and emphasized that after nearly 100 years of history, Volvo Cars’ ability to reinvent itself time and again is both a remarkable achievement and a constant challenge.
Two phases of Samuelsson’s leadership at the company
Håkan Samuelsson has led the company in two separate periods: from 2012 to 2022, and again since April 2025, when he returned to develop the company’s future strategic roadmap at a particularly challenging time for the automotive industry. During this second term, Samuelsson has brought stability during a critical phase for the company as it prepared to find a long-term successor, a process that now concludes with the appointment of Zellmer.