ZF has appointed Wilhelm Rehm to head its forthcoming new Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division. Rehm, Member of the ZF Board of Management, oversees the commercial vehicle business in addition to industrial technology and materials management. Powerfully combining the technology expertise and capabilities of ZF, the new Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division will have the scale and resources to further accelerate ZF’s ambitious commercial vehicle growth strategy world-wide.
Rehm has held a Board of Management position since 2012. His appointment to lead the new division, and spearhead a leadership team selected from both Divisions, provides strong continuity in ZF’s Group’s structure. With this advance, the company will further build on its current position as the world’s biggest technology component and systems supplier to the commercial vehicle sector.
“ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division, on schedule to launch January 1, 2022, will be uniquely positioned to support the ambitions of truck, bus, coach and trailer OEMs, as well as fleets, world-wide,” explained Rehm. “With well-defined strategies to mobilize commercial vehicle intelligence, the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division will be structured to maintain close proximity to customers in every region,” explained Rehm. “We believe this approach, combined with the breadth and depth of capability we can bring to innovate, supply and integrate onboard systems and technology, will offer new levels of benefit and value-enhancing synergies for customers.”
“Bringing together ZF’s expertise and capabilities, the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division will further build on our combined technology successes. This includes the recent launch of OnGuardMAX, our most advanced autonomous emergency braking assistance system and ZF’s first complete ‘in-house’ system integrating camera, radar, ECU and actuation for commercial vehicles. In line with ZF’s ‘Next Generation Mobility’ strategy, the division will also help ZF leapfrog towards market leadership in e-mobility, vehicle operating systems, autonomous driving and digitalization,” added Rehm.
Alongside announcing the Division’s new leadership team, Mr. Rehm wholeheartedly thanked both leaders of ZF’s commercial vehicle divisions who strongly supported the acquisition’s strategic logic and integration efforts. Andreas Moser, who led ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Division as Executive Vice President was appointed to lead ZF’s Division Industrial Technology from April his year. Fredrik Staedtler, Executive Vice President of the Commercial Vehicle Control Systems Division, has elected to leave ZF for personal reasons and by mutual best agreement.
Key Appointments
Within the leadership team for ZF’s new Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division, the following lead roles and regional customer business specificities have also been announced:
R&D and Systems Solutions: Dr. Christian Brenneke
EMEA: Nick Rens and Kleber Vinhas
APAC: Sujie Yu
The Americas: Julien Plenchette
India: P. Kaniappan
Together, ZF’s current Commercial Vehicle Technology and Control Systems divisions are supported by approximately 25,000 employees networked across 61 locations in 28 countries.