Features
4 oct 22

Who’s new in the Latam automotive scene

There are major shifts happening in the automotive and mobility industries around the world today, changes which call for new faces with new ideas in the corporate world. In this feature, we will see who is new in the Latam automotive industry, or to say who is who in terms of new executive appointements in the region.

In Latin America, one of the largest executive changes to take place recently is the Volkswagen Group’s appointment of Alexander Seitz as Executive Chairman in Latin America, now heading operations in 29 countries as of Saturday (1 October).

To lead the company in Brazil and Argentina as well as those throughout South and Central America, Mr. Seitz succeeds Pablo Di Si who has went on to become the CEO of the group in North America.

Joining Volkswagen AG in 2005 when he headed Groupwide Procurement for powertrains, among others, Mr. Seitz, who has held executive positions in purchasing, financing, and controlling for Volkswagen, will be leading operations out of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, Ciro Possobom will continue with the company's leadership in Brazil as COO.

Brazil

Also starting posts in the second semester for two other automakers based out of Brazil are Marcelo Taveira (pictured right) and José Ricardo Gomes (pictured below).

While Great Wall Motors has appointed Mr. Taveira to head vehicle finance and subscription in the country, reporting directly to communications director Oswaldo Ramos, Toyota Motor Corporation has appointed Mr. Gomes as Commercial Director, a veteran of nearly two decades with the company. 

Mr. Taveira will be responsible for putting together financing programs to be offered to clients seeking electric vehicles (EV) as well as the Chinese automakers car subscription program which is seen kicking off by year-end 2022. And for Mr. Gomes, he now oversees sales and after-sales in the country for the Japanese OEM.

Meanwhile, there has been major changes in Brazil’s local car rental and vehicle leasing industry. While Localiza has acquired most of Unidas, the remaining assets of the latter has been joined with local competitor Ouro Verde under the umbrella of Brookfield Asset Management. 

In the wake of this, Localiza has appointed Dirley Ricci (pictured right) as Executive Director of Vehicle Purchasing, formerly co-owner and head of asset management for Unidas.

And most recently, as Ouro Verde announced on Monday (3 October) that it will be renamed Unidas, the new CEO of the newly formed Unidas is now Cláudio Zatter (pictured left). Mr. Zatter was previously Ouro Verde CEO and before that, Executive Director of Localiza.

The largest Brazilian vehicle rental and leasing agencies are now Localiza (500,000 vehicles) Movida (207,000), and Unidas (87,000).

The Rest

Up north in Mexico, auto industry executive Carlos Zarlenga (pictured right) started a new post in September as President of the Stellantis automotive group. Mr. Zarlenga held various top-level positions at General Motors for nearly a decade, most recently being president and CEO of GM South America from 2019-2021.

As a direct competitor of General Motors, both Stellantis and GM are among the leading brands in Latin America, and both in the process of developing their vehicle electrification plans in the region and throughout the world.

Meanwhile, multinational vehile leasing and mobility company ALD Automotive has appointed Mauricio Serna Lozano as CEO in Chile this year, and Ana Milena Serrano as the company’s Commercial Director in Colombia. Helman Beltran has taken over Ms. Serrano’s previous position as Operations Director.


Mauricio Serna Lozano and Ana Milena Serrano
 

To get a better idea of the profile of countries throughout Latin America and other regions of the world, visit Global Fleet's Wikifleet pages, a free collaborative encyclopedia about car fleet management, mobility, and more around the world.

Authored by: Daniel Bland