New CEO for MAN SE

There's been more movement at the top in Volkswagen's commercial vehicles empire, with the Supervisory Board of MAN SE – which falls under Volkswagen's corporate umbrella – recently announcing that Joachim Drees will take over from MAN stalwart Dr Georg Pachta-Reyhofen as the CEO of MAN SE from October 1, 2015.

MAN SE is the parent company of MAN Group, which in turn comprises MAN Truck & Bus, MAN Diesel & Turbo and MAN Latin America, among other interests.

At the start of April this year Mr Drees was appointed CEO of MAN Truck & Bus, as out-going CEO Anders Nielsen moved into a business development role with Volkswagen AG's commercial vehicles division.

A new CEO for MAN Truck & Bus in the wake of Drees' new role is yet to be announced.

Drees, 50, has previously held management roles at Daimler Trucks and Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and served as the Chief Financial Officer of Berlin-based international consulting firm, Drees & Sommer.

MAN has also announced that Jan-Henrik Lafrentz will take on the role of CFO of MAN SE, as Dr Peter Park refocusses his efforts on the role of CFO for MAN Diesel & Turbo.

The changes comes as Volkswagen AG continues the reorganisation of its commercial vehicles arm to maximise efficiencies and boost profits across it three key brands – Volkswagen, MAN, and Scania.

Volkswagen successfully acquired full control of Scania in May 2014, and since then has been focussing on unlocking various synergies across its commercial vehicles brands.

At the time Volkswagen said it hoped to achieve savings of up to Euro 650 million per year across the three brands, although it admitted it could take up to a decade to reach that objective.

In May 2015 Volkswagen placed its commercial vehicle interests under the guidance of its Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH holding company.

In April 2015 it was announced that Martin Lundstedt, then President and CEO of Scania AB, was leaving the company to go to Volvo, where he will replace out-going chief Olof Persson from next month. Scania veteran Per Hallberg was named as Lundstedt's replacement, while Volkswagen commercial vehicles head Andreas Renschler was installed as Scania's Chairman of the Board.

Dr Pachta-Reyhofen, who started at MAN in 1986, said he was thankful to have played an instrumental role in the company's growth.

"Following the continued successful development of the MAN Group as an internationally positioned enterprise focusing on transport and energy generation and MAN's integration into the Volkswagen Group, my most important assignments have meanwhile been completed," he said.

"This has prompted me to place my executive board responsibilities in someone else's hands.

"Over 257 years, MAN has made unique engineering history in Europe and I am proud and grateful to have made a contribution to this. I wish MAN and its employees a successful future amid the existing global competition."