MOTOR INDUSTRY veteran Paul Willis has been appointed managing director of Volkswagen Group Ireland.

A native of Northern Ireland, Mr Willis joins from Kia Europe, the brand owned by Korean manufacturer Hyundai. Prior to that, he headed up Volkswagen in Britain for seven years. He has also held senior posts with BMW, Mazda, Toyota and Ford in the UK.

The appointment of Mr Willis comes as Volkswagen overhauls its business model in Ireland.

From October 1st next, the German manufacturer will take control of the distribution of all new Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda cars as well as Volkswagen commercial vehicles in Ireland. For the last 57 years importing and distribution had been handled by Motor Distributors Limited (MDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of O’Flaherty Holdings. The major shareholders in O’Flaherty Holdings are Michael O’Flaherty (74) and his brother Nigel (69), who is chairman of MDL.

The VW import business is to be transferred to Volkswagen Group Ireland along with all 120 MDL employees currently working in that business. Volkswagen will also move its Irish operations out of MDL’s landmark building on Dublin’s Naas Road to a new facility in Liffey Valley.

Volkswagen delivered 29,792 cars to customers in Ireland in the seven months to the end of July last, it said in a statement released yesterday. This gives it a market share of 18.3 per cent.

Mr Willis replaces Bob O’Callaghan, who is retiring after 43 years with Volkswagen.