Christian Müller appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering for the Groupe PSA

• Christian Müller, current Opel R&D chief, succeeds Alain Raposo at Groupe PSA level with the same responsibilities
• Marcus Lott to follow Christian Müller as Vice President Opel/Vauxhall Engineering

Christian Müller

Christian Müller, currently Managing Director Engineering Opel Automobile GmbH has been appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering of Groupe PSA effective August 1. He will report to Nicolas Morel, EVP Research & Development. He will succeed Alain Raposo who has served in this position since May 2018. Alain Raposo has chosen to leave Groupe PSA voluntarily at the end of August 2020 in order to pursue a personal project.

Marcus Lott, Vice President Body in White, Equipment & Materials Engineering and an Opel/Vauxhall engineer since 1994, will become the new head for R&D of the German and British brands and member of the Managing Board of Opel Automobile GmbH effective August 1.

Nicolas Morel, Executive Vice President Research & Development of Groupe PSA said: “I am delighted to work even closer with Christian Müller who is a leading and recognized powertrain expert in the automotive industry. And I congratulate Marcus Lott on his new position. With his many years of engineering experience, he will make a decisive contribution to successfully developing further the Opel/Vauxhall brands and the group’s Engineering Center in Rüsselsheim. These management decisions clearly demonstrate how closely integrated our engineering teams work together. German Engineering competence will continue to play a key role in the Groupe PSA.”

Michael Lohscheller, member of Groupe PSA Managing Board and CEO of Opel/Vauxhall added: “German Engineering is at the heart of Opel. As head of Opel R&D, Christian played a key role in making this visible and tangible for our customers in all of our models, like the current Corsa and future Mokka, which are also available in electric versions. I am delighted that with Marcus Lott we have appointed a highly experienced and recognized engineer as his successor. Marcus has known our company, models and people for almost 30 years now.”

Christian Müller has been Managing Director Engineering of Opel Automobile GmbH since August 1, 2017. Prior to this assignment, he held the position of Vice President GM Global Propulsion Systems – Europe. Christian Müller was born in Rüsselsheim, Germany in 1969 and received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Darmstadt University.

Marcus Lott has been Vice President Body in White, Equipment & Materials Engineering since January this year. Before this assignment, he was Vice President Programs & Strategy of Opel/Vauxhall. Furthermore, he led the development of various vehicles in North America, South America, Asia and Europe as a chief engineer. Marcus Lott was born in Mainz, Germany in 1968 and holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering/Automotive Technology from RWTH Aachen.

AUTOBEST Awards for All-New Opel Corsa and Opel CEO Lohscheller

• “Best Buy Car of Europe 2020”: Opel Corsa wins for the third time at AUTOBEST
• “MANBEST 2019”: CEO Michael Lohscheller is Manager of the Year
• Grand gala: prize-giving ceremony in Mainz
• Successful year: Opel models receive numerous awards across Europe in 2019

AUTOBEST Awards: prize-giving ceremony in Mainz

Double success for Opel at AUTOBEST: at yesterday's award ceremony in Mainz, CEO Michael Lohscheller was awarded the “MANBEST” award for best manager of the year 2019. In addition, the Opel boss received the “Best Buy Car 2020” trophy for the new Opel Corsa. AUTOBEST jury, which is made up of international journalists from 31 countries, has chosen the Opel newcomer as the car with the best price-performance ratio in Europe. With the current award, the new Opel Corsa scores an AUTOBEST title hat trick: No other model has been named “Best Buy Car of Europe” in three successive generations. Among the gala guests in Mainz were Managing Director Marketing and Sales, Xavier Duchemin, Managing Director Engineering, Christian Müller and Vice President Communication, Harald Hamprecht.

Centre-stage with new Opel Corsa: Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller flanked by (from left to right), Harald Hamprecht (Vice President Communications), Christian Müller (Managing Director Engineering), Dan Vardie (Founder, AUTOBEST) and Xavier Duchemin (Managing Director Sales, Marketing and Aftersales).

“Our new Opel Corsa is a future-oriented car – state-of-the-art, with excellent driving dynamics and also electric. It offers top technologies at fair prices. That also convinced the AUTOBEST jury”, said Michael Lohscheller in Mainz. “The ‘MANBEST’ award is a great personal honour for me. This title exemplifies what we have achieved as a team with all employees at Opel. We have put Opel back on the road to success – and it will stay that way”, promised the manager of the year 2019.

Manager of the year: Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller (left) receives the MANBEST award from AUTOBEST jury member, Richard Aucock.

After the takeover of Opel by Groupe PSA in 2017, Michael Lohscheller and his management team developed and implemented the comprehensive strategic plan “PACE!”, which will make Opel sustainably profitable, global and electric. New Opel Corsa-e started the major electrification offensive with its world premiere last summer. Opel Corsa-e combines the practical Corsa qualities with locally CO2-free operation and an everyday electric range of up to 337 kilometres (according to WLTP 1). Already in 2007 and 2015, Corsa generation numbers four and five won overall at AUTOBEST. New Opel Corsa and Corsa-e continue this tradition with the third AUTOBEST title.

Opel Corsa wins for the third time at AUTOBEST

Awards from experts and public: Enthusiasm for Opel models

New generation Corsa has made a strong start. In Germany, for example, it has already been named “Company Car of the Year” and a few days ago, it received the “Connected Car Award” from the Auto Bild Group. In Spain, new Opel Corsa won the “Premio Best Car Coche Global” title. The Opel flagship Insignia is also celebrating success across Europe. In the United Kingdom, it was recently named the “Upper Medium Car of the Year” for the third year in a row; due to its high quality, it is also in the running for the J.D. Power “Most reliable Midsize Car”. In Germany, thanks to its state-of-the-art Twinster all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, the Insignia is the “All-Wheel Drive Car of The Year” and “Auto Test Award” winner, as well as “J.D. Power Award” title-holder. The compact SUVs Mokka X and Crossland X complete the award series at Opel as "Most Reliable Small SUV" in the UK and "Best Family Car" in the Netherlands.

Light commercial vehicles from Opel’s sister brand, Vauxhall, are also particularly popular in the UK. The trio of Combo Cargo, Vivaro and Movano has received numerous prizes ranging from "Small / Light / Medium Van of the Year" to "Light Commercial Vehicle of the Year" and the "TVD Best Trader's Choice Award". The new Vivaro also received the “TVD Best Newcomer Award”. Overseas, Opel was “Brand of the Year” in 2019.

[1] Fuel consumption and CO2-emission data have been determined according to WLTP test procedure methodology (R (EC) No. 715/2007, R (EU) No. 2017/1151).