Jost Capito (53) is to head Volkswagen Motorsport effective May 1, 2012. He takes over from Kris Nissen (51), who will support his successor during the transition phase and subsequently assist the Group in an advisory capacity.

Jost Capito moves to the Volkswagen Group from Ford Motor Company USA. He has decades of experience in motorsport; among other things, he was involved in Formula 1 and was also co-pilot and winner in the truck category of the Paris-Dakar Rally. The engineering graduate began his career in 1984 as a development engineer for BMW’s high-performance engines. Capito joined Porsche in 1989, first heading the Porsche Carrera Cup Organisation and later overseeing all Porsche brand racing championship campaigns. He held executive posts at Sauber Petronas Engineering from 1996 to 2001 and was Chief Operating Officer of the Sauber Red Bull Formula 1 team from 1998. Capito moved to Ford at the end of 2001 where he latterly held responsibility for Ford’s global performance vehicle business and for motorsports strategy. He headed the team that produced the Ford Focus ST and Focus RS and is generally recognised as one of the world leaders in the production of high-performance cars.

Kris Nissen (51) has been Director of Volkswagen Motorsport since 2003 and won important motorsport victories for Volkswagen during his tenure. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand with responsibility for ‘Development’, thanked Nissen for his achievements: “Mr. Nissen has taken Volkswagen Motorsport a long way forward and led the Motorsport team during the most successful phase in its history so far. He was instrumental in Volkswagen’s double victory at the 2009 Dakar Rally and helped write motorsport history with the one-two-three podium finishes in 2010 and 2011