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VW of America hires de Nysschen as COO

4K views 55 replies 27 participants last post by  jesda1 
#1 ·
"Volkswagen of America has hired longtime luxury executive Johan de Nysschen as its new COO for the brand in North America.
De Nysschen, 59, who was ousted as head of Cadillac in April 2018 after a tumultuous four-year stint, and who previously served as head of the Infiniti brand and Audi of America, will assume the new role with the Volkswagen brand on Oct. 1".

More at the link...

https://www.autonews.com/executives/vw-america-hires-de-nysschen-coo
 
#4 ·
I'll admit that I was a big supporter of JdN during his time at Cadillac and thought he was exactly the guy Cadillac needed. And I still think he was better than yet another insider. However, now that I've seen the products developed under his watch, I'm not nearly as impressed as I wanted to be.
 
#6 ·
Good for him, he got a raw deal at both Infiniti and Caddillac.

However, now that I've seen the products developed under his watch, I'm not nearly as impressed as I wanted to be.
Escala was JdN. What you are seeing is all Reusse.
 
#5 ·
Nysschen thought raising Cadillac prices to allude to more "luxury" was a good idea. This showed me that he didn't understand how to truly turn around Cadillac. However, I did like how he wanted to keep the option open for a "V" version of the XT4. Cadillac's rejection of the idea showed me that it doesn't matter who Cadillac get's as long as GM's bean counters are still making product decisions.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Raising the price was fine....its just that there couldn't have been a single hint of cost cutting if you're going to jack up prices. GM has an addiction to saving pennies on the dollar w/ using lower cost materials in "low touch" areas...the thing they don't understand is that it affects the whole luxury aesthetic when you do crap like that. Switchgear on the CT6...hell the brand new CT4/5 reek of mainstream parts bin raiding. That needs to stop in order for Cadillac to be percieved as on par w/ Lexus/BMW/Audi/MB.

Good for him, he got a raw deal at both Infiniti and Caddillac.



Escala was JdN. What you are seeing is all Reusse.
XTSux was JdN...but it was him trying to quick fill a void in the lineup. Reuss' legacy is going to be keeping this sub-par product in the market for 8 years and not backfilling w/ a proper lux offering.

Edit: Just as a sneak peek of what Reuss' era is going to look like, look no further than the CT4/5 V rollout...a stupefying clusterf----
 
#33 · (Edited)
The JdN saga reminds me of sports stars who die young. Think Len Bias, the promising basketball player who overdosed before starting his pro career. Or, if you're fairly old or just a rather geeky Pittsburgh Penguins fan, Michel Briere, a young promising center who died in a car crash after his rookie year. Both are still talked about. Both are referred to as "stars," as though they had HOF careers, when they didn't actually do anything, at least not as pros. This is how JdN is talked about. He talked a good game, people had high hopes for him. He didn't deliver much before he was let go, and what was delivered was largely underwhelming, except for the dramatic drop in sedan sales. But dying young let's you live forever in a way.
 
#36 ·
I wonder if JdN will have any say at reforming the ailing Audi brand?
The VWGoA press release states:

Volkswagen Group of America said:
"Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA) today named Johan de Nysschen Chief Operating Officer of the Volkswagen brand's North American region. He starts in this newly created role Oct. 1. He will report to Scott Keogh, head of Volkswagen Group of America
That suggests that De Nysschen will not be directly involved with the Audi brand in his new role.

He started at Audi.
Correct. De Nysschen spent 20 years with VW Group globally, mostly with Audi.
 
#38 ·
I gather that JDN really wasn allowed to do much, product plans styling and marketing were already in place, so it was a case of “make this work”. He got the blame for Cadillac moving from Detroit but that was decided by others.

I think he’ll be a lot happier back with VW group, it’s very much like going home to him and the people hiring him.
 
#39 ·
I always got the feeling that GM "kneecapped" him at every turn and he was set up to be the "puppet" to give us outsiders "hope" and the insider "brain trust" was going to fix it from the back side but the hail mary was a punt at best and the bottom fell out of sedans and GM fed him the kirb
I think GM is trying to "bury" CADDY for a FEW years and will trot it out once EV/AV is further along but for now it is "corp cruisecontrol"
 
#54 ·
Maybe I'm weird...but I liked the Escala. Now maybe the design elements from the Concept didn't port over well to a few production models (XT6 and CT4), but that isnt because the core design sucked, I think that a proper implementation in a production model would've involved higher priced components that GM wasnt ready to foot the bill for.

 
#56 · (Edited)
Escala ONLY worked because it was long and low -- the formula for any good looking sedan.

The actual details -- grille, lighting, DLO -- are unoriginal and awkward. Production cars only reveal how poor those design elements translate into reality.

Meanwhile Cien, Evoq, Ciel, and Sixteen translated well into CTS2, CTS3, XLR, Escalade. It's not a cost issue. It's the fault of JDN and others who wrongly thought Escala was a spectacular concept car with a design worth pursuing as a brand identity. It simply wasn't. Even the name, Escala, is unoriginal.


Reuss and Carlisle aren't promising but we can note that without wrongly slobbing JDN's knob.
 
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