Audi Brussels has undergone a total transformation over the last three years in becoming the production site for the Audi e-tron 55 Quattro, and you can read more about this plant in our columns here.

At the helm of this rebirth stood Patrick Danau, and with his team he made the factory in the heart of Europe into a leading plant for electric mobility. This was his final challenge and crown on his long and successful career, as he celebrated his retirement last week.

The graduate engineer had known the Brussels plant since 1978, when he began his career in the assembly section of the former VW plant in Brussels. After numerous positions in Group companies around the world, Danau found his way back to Brussels in 2014, where he worked for the past five years as General Director for Production, Technology and Logistics and Spokesperson of the Management. “For me, my professional life has come full circle: I am now ending my career where everything started for me more than 40 years ago. I could not have imagined a better conclusion at the end of my career than the production of the Audi e-tron.”

A new director with a vast international experience, spanning from Brazil to China…

Volker Germann is now the new managing director at Audi Brussels. Within the executive board of Audi Brussels, Volker Germann will hold the positions of General Director for Production, Technology and Logistics and Spokesperson of the Management.

“With Volker Germann, a proven production expert with great international experience has come to the Brussels site. We are delighted that we have been able to gain him for this task,” says Peter Kössler, Chairman of the Administrative Board of Audi Brussels and Member of the Board of Management for Production and Logistics at AUDI AG.

Germann has been working successfully for the Volkswagen Group and Audi for many years. He has a acquired a vast international experience. He graduated in engineering at the College of Technology in Mannheim and began his career in 1986 as an employee in central planning for painting and assembly at VW. But in 2009 already, the distant horizons called, and he became managing director at VW do Brasil in Curitiba. In 2016, Volker Germann became managing director of the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture in Changchun, China. The Audi A4 L, Audi A6 L, Audi A6 L e-tron, Audi Q3 and Audi Q5 L model series are built for the Chinese market in that city, which has a population of approximately seven million.

Germann is now looking forward to the new professional challenge in the European capital: “The Brussels plant is currently carrying out one of the most important ramp-ups at Audi. Under the leadership of Patrick Danau, the factory has prepared itself optimally for this task. I am happy to be able to help shape the dawn of the age of e-mobility and the production of vehicles with completely new drive technology. I am now part of the team that is putting the Audi e-tron on the road with great passion and skill.”

Hans Knol ten Bensel