Karl Bernqvist is joining the Brand Management Board and taking over responsibility for procurement at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) in Hannover from 1 July 2020. Bernqvist, who has worked for the Volkswagen Group in various senior procurement roles for over 19 years, comes to Hannover from TRATON and Navistar’s purchasing joint venture in Lisle, Illinois. He succeeds Jörn Hasenfuß, who left VWCV to manage the Osnabrück site as Chief Executive.
“In Karl Bernqvist we are gaining a proven purchasing and commercial vehicles expert, who in his new role at VWCV will make a decisive contribution to our GRIP 2025+ strategy for the future. All of us on the Brand Management Board are looking forward very much to working with him”, said Thomas Sedran, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
Prior to this move, Bernqvist worked for three years in the USA at Global Truck & Bus Procurement, TRATON and Navistar’s joint venture, which successfully created many benefits for the alliance partners. This included a closer collaboration within the supply chain as well as volume and cost advantages. Before that he was head of ‘New Projects’ purchasing at MAN Truck & Bus in Munich for about two and half years. For the majority of his career he worked for truck and bus manufacturer Scania CV AB in Södertälje (Sweden) and Sao Paulo (Brazil), where he held various purchasing positions, most lately as Senior Vice President of Procurement, Quality, Projects and Strategy. It was also at Scania in Sweden where his career began as a management trainee in 2001.
Bernqvist’s predecessor Jörn Hasenfuß took over the management of Volkswagen’s Osnabrück site as Executive Chairman and CEO Engineering as of May 1st. Thomas Sedran thanked him for his work on the Brand Management Board at VWCV and wished him every success in his future role.