Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn term extended

The Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG has extended the contract of CEO Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn unanimously for another five years. Winterkorn will lead Europe's largest car manufacturer till 2016. Winterkorn took over as CEO on January 1, 2007. The ongoing contract ends on December 31, 2011. Martin Winterkorn (born 24 May 1947 in Leonberg, Germany) is the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, and Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi and Porsche Automobil Holding SE. He succeeded Bernd Pischetsrieder as Chairman of Volkswagen AG on January 1, 2007.Prior to that, he had been the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi AG. Winterkorn studied Metallurgy and Metal Physics at the University of Stuttgart from 1966 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977 he was a PhD student at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research, where he received his doctorate in 1977. Winterkorn’s professional career began in 1977 as a specialist assistant in the research division "Process Engineering" at Robert Bosch GmbH. From 1978 to 1981 he headed the refrigerant compressor development group "Substances and Processes" at Robert Bosch GmbH and Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte GmbH. In 1981. Winterkorn joined Audi AG as assistant to the Member of the Board for Quality Assurance. Two years later, he assumed responsibility for "Measuring Technology/Sampling and Test Laboratory" at Audi. At the beginning of 1988, he was made departmental head of "Central Quality Assurance", and in 1990 Head of Audi Quality Assurance. In 1993 Winterkorn became Head of "Group Quality Assurance" at Volkswagen AG and was appointed General Representative of Volkswagen AG in March 1994. He was additionally responsible for Volkswagen Group Product Management from June 1995. In January 1996 Winterkorn took over as Member of the brand Board of Management for "Technical Development" at the Volkswagen brand. From July 2000 he was Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for Research and Development. Winterkorn became Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG on March 1, 2002. In addition to this, Winterkorn assumed responsibility for Technical Development at Audi AG on January 1, 2003. In his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, Winterkorn was also a Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. In 2003, Winterkorn was made an honorary professor of Budapest University of Technology and Economics. On August 1, 2004, he was awarded an honorary professorship from the Technical University of Dresden for the subject area "Lightweight Materials in Automotive Engineering". On July 18, 2007, Winterkorn received an honorary professorship from Tongji University, Shanghai, which has enjoyed a close scientific partnership with Volkswagen for many years.