Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer, who has led the Volkswagen Group subsidiary to record profits while expanding its full-electric lineup, will succeed Hakan Samuelsson as chief executive officer and president at Volvo Cars.
The appointment aims to bring proven leadership in electrification and profitability as Volvo navigates intense competition in premium electric vehicles and prepares to launch 13 new models by 2030.
Zellmer, 59, will take over the job “no later than Oct. 1, 2027”, Volvo said on Sunday, Sept. 20, in a news release. Volvo said Samuelsson would serve for two years when he replaced Jim Rowan in April 2025, though Samuelsson told Automotive News Europe that the timeframe was flexible.
It seems a little bit odd to announce a new CEO and lure someone away from the competition one year before he actually comes to power. No doubt, Zellmer will be working closely with Samuelsson to prepare for its reign. Samuelsson may leave earlier or become Chairman of the Board or an important advisor instead.
Bringing Skoda to full bloom
Skoda has been steadily gaining market share and recorded strong profits under Zellmer since he took over the Czech company in 2022. Through seven months of 2026, Skoda is Europe’s No. 2-selling marque in the group, behind only the Volkswagen passenger cars brand, with sales up 8.9% to 533,748.
Skoda’s global sales rose 13% in 2025 to more than 1 million, the first time volume topped 1 million since 2019. That helped the automaker reach record highs in both revenue (€30.1 billion, up 8.3%) and operating profit (€2.5 billion, up 8.6%), while return on sales was 8.3%. By comparison, Volvo posted an adjusted operating profit of SEK 12.5 billion ($1.3 billion) and an adjusted operating margin of 3.5%.
Skoda was also Europe’s No. 5-selling brand of full-electric cars, with 123,756 sales, according to figures from market researcher Dataforce. The Skoda Elroq was Europe’s No. 2-selling EV with a volume of 67,737, behind only the Tesla Model Y, while the Enyaq ranked fifth with 47,106 sales.
Porsche guy
Zellmer has more than 30 years’ experience in the automotive industry, including more than two decades at Porsche. After graduating with a degree in Business Administration, Klaus Zellmer spent three years, starting in 1994, working at the Institute for Automotive Economics at the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences.
He joined Porsche in 1997 as an assistant to the board member for sales and marketing. In July 1999, he was appointed area manager for Porsche North America. The following year, he moved to Porsche’s Leipzig plant, where he held management positions, and in 2007 he became head of marketing for Porsche Germany.
He was promoted to lead Porsche Germany in 2010 and became president and CEO of Porsche North America in 2015. He led the unit during a period of sustained growth, with Porsche’s U.S. sales rising to a record 61,568 vehicles in 2019 from 51,756 in 2015, while the brand also topped key J.D. Power customer satisfaction rankings.
He then moved to head of sales and marketing at the VW brand in 2020 and in 2022 was named chairman and CEO of Skoda.
Quotes
“Klaus Zellmer combines deep automotive expertise with broad international leadership experience and a strong record of guiding organizations through transformation and changing market conditions,” Volvo Chairman Eric Li said in the Volvo press release.
“His experience from both the high-end premium segment and high-volume brands is an excellent fit for Volvo Cars. The Board is confident that, under Klaus Zellmer’s leadership, Volvo Cars will build on its strong foundations and enter its next chapter with a clear ambition to strengthen its position as a leading premium car company,” Li added.
“I am delighted to join Volvo Cars at such an important moment in the company’s development,” Klaus Zellmer responded. “Few automotive brands have built such a strong and lasting reputation for safety, consistently applying this core value across the mobility sector. I admire Volvo Cars’ timeless, contemporary design language and the clarity of its brand identity.”
“The company has a solid foundation and an experienced team, and I look forward to working with colleagues across Volvo Cars to build on these strengths. After almost 100 years, Volvo Cars’ ability to reinvent itself time and again is both a remarkable achievement and an ongoing challenge. I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued development and to shaping its next chapter together,” he added.
Samuelsson
Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo’s current CEO and President, led the company to multiple records for vehicle sales and profits while serving as CEO from 2012 to 2022. During that period, Volvo set a record for global sales six times in eight years.
Samuelsson, now 75, is in his second stint as Volvo CEO. Since his return in 2025, he has replaced Jim Rowan, who distinguished himself by taking decisions that brought Volvo into more troubled waters by overestimating Volvo’s sales potential in a changing, more difficult automotive landscape and (over)investing accordingly.
Samuelsson has since helped develop the automaker’s new strategic roadmap. “He has been providing stability during a pivotal period for the company while preparing for a long-term successor,” Volvo’s press release stated.
Volvo announced Sept. 17 that it will launch 13 new vehicles by 2030, the biggest product offensive in its 99-year history. Volvo will offer separate lineups for Western markets and China as trade barriers, technology regulations and diverging consumer preferences fragment the global auto industry.
Volvo Ghent
In the Belgian press, there has been a major upheaval recently over whether the Volvo XC and EX 40 line-up will stay in Ghent or move to the new factory in Kosice, Slovakia. To be clear, Volvo will never produce the 40 in Kosice because it sits on a different platform than what will be produced there.
The 40 line-up, which received an update recently, will stay in Ghent until the end (probably around 2030 for the XC Ice versions). The electric successor, the EX50, which Volvo doesn’t want to talk about yet, sits on the new platform it shares with the Polestar 7 and will for sure be produced in Slovakia.
When the 40 series disappears, Volvo Ghent will continue to produce Volvo’s smallest EV, the EX30, and most probably other cars from different makes within the Geely automotive group. That’s what Samuelsson promised a few weeks ago when the Belgian and Flemish governments proposed investing €119 million in Ghent.
.
