Mike Glendinning was born and bred in Port Elizabeth and holds an Honours degree in Marketing from UNISA. He joined Volkswagen South Africa as a graduate trainee in 1985 and has had a long and distinguished career within sales and marketing, whilst holding many different senior positions, which included influencing and guiding Volkswagen's benchmark advertising over the years. He headed the Audi Brand from 1999 to 2004, after which he took over the reins of the Volkswagen brand before joining the board of VWSA as sales and marketing director in 2006.
During his tenure as sales and marketing director, VWSA's passenger market share increased from 22% to 24.3% in 2013. This was aided by the introduction of the Polo Vivo in which Glendinning played a leading role when the Citi Golf ran out in 2010. He also oversaw the successful introduction of the Amarok onto the South African market, allowing VWSA to compete in the one-ton light commercial vehicle market for the first time, whilst the Audi brand has become a serious contender in the premium segment of the market.
A massive drive and commitment by Glendinning to become the benchmark in customer service has had the VWSA brands moving from providing average customer service to becoming the benchmark in the industry as proven by the independent IPSOS research studies.
"Mike has often said that his biggest responsibility would be taking the successful Volkswagen, Audi and Commercial Vehicle brands and passing them on to his successor in better condition than he received them. I can state, without a doubt, that Mike will more than have lived up to this challenge when he passes the directorship on in October," said David Powels MD, Volkswagen Group South Africa. "His contribution to the sustainable success of the Volkswagen Group in South Africa cannot be underestimated and he leaves behind a legacy that will be an indelible part of our company's history for the long time," added Powels.
Glendinning will take up his new post in October and his wife Judy and son Paul will join him in Mexico in the new year.
Glendinning will be succeeded by Petra Hoffmann who currently heads sales and marketing for the Group Genuine Parts and Service division based in Kassel, Germany.
Petra Hoffmann who spent some months at VWSA in the mid-1990s holds a MBA from the University of Saarbruecken in Germany and joined the Volkswagen Group in 1995 as a trainee. She has held various senior positions with Volkswagen including the head of sales for Auto 5000 in Wolfsburg, and as regional sales manager for the Volkswagen brand for key European markets.
Before joining Group Parts she was the liaison manager between Volkswagen and Porsche Holdings in Salzburg. Hoffmann will be relocating to Joburg and will have overall sales and marketing responsibility for the Volkswagen, Audi and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle Brands.
"We welcome Hoffmann to her new role in South Africa and believe that her extensive experience with different markets in Europe will further cement our leading position in South Africa's highly competitive vehicle market," said Powels.
