Speakers

Colin Couchman, Executive Director of Global Automotive Sales Forecasting, S&P Global Mobility

Colin Couchman serves as the Executive Director of Global Automotive Sales Forecasting at S&P Global Mobility. In this role, he leads a global team of analysts specialising in light vehicle forecasting, sales-driven powertrain research, manufacturer model program strategies, and vehicle segmentation analysis. Additionally, Couchman manages bespoke forecasting projects tailored for major international clients. With over 28 years of extensive experience in forecasting trends within the automotive industry, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his position. Couchman holds an MBA in International Management and a BA (Hons) in Economic History and Politics, both from the University of London.

Wolfgang Göbel, President, ECG

Wolfgang Göbel has been working for the Mosolf Group for more than 40 years. He began his career at the automobile logistics specialist as an assistant to the management team and later became head of the sales/marketing and logistics department.

In May 2016 he was appointed to the position of Chief Sales Officer and member of the Management Board of the company. Wolfgang Göbel is responsible in his new remit for all the sales activities and the long-term sales strategy of the group. He continues to exercise his previous positions within the company, which include his tasks as Managing Director of the Mosolf subsidiaries Mosolf Automotive Railway, Mosolf Logistics & Services and SAT Sächsische Autotransport und Service. Additionally, he is responsible in the board of Mosolf for the business units of Mosolf Automotive Releasing, Mosolf Logistics & Services and for sustainability and implementation of the ESG strategy.

Mr. Göbel became President of ECG in May 2016 after the elections at the ECG General Assembly. Prior to this he served as Vice-President of the Association from 2009 and has been an ECG Board member since 2003.

Major General Ulf Haeussler, Director Operations and Planning Division

Major General Ulf Haeussler joined the German Army in 1985 and completed his training as a Military Police officer in 1988, followed by studies at the Bundeswehr University, in Munich, with a Diploma in Business Administrations.

From 1992 to 1998, he was assigned as platoon leader, then as commander of the military police station in Ulm, followed by commanding the military police training company in Stetten.

From 1998 to 2000 he attended the Command and General Staff Officer Course at the German Defence College (Fuehrungsakademie der Bundeswehr) in Hamburg. He then became Head of the Operational Planning and Exercise Branch of the 7th Armoured Division in Düsseldorf. He was deployed as Chief of the Planning Division, Multinational Division Southeast, SFOR, in Mostar from November 2000 to May 2001.

In 2002, he was posted to Brussels to the European Union Branch of the German Military Representative to NATO and EU, as Assistant Section Chief. Back in Germany, Haeussler contributed his experience to the Army Staff in Bonn as Plans and Policy Officer NATO & EU from 2004 to 2006.

He subsequently went back to his military roots and became Commander of the MP Battalion 351 “Feldjaegerbataillon 351” in Leipzig from 2006 to 2008. During his responsibility as Battalion Commander, Haeussler was deployed to Afghanistan as Provost Marshal RC North and Military Police Commander of the DEU Contingent to ISAF. From there he was called back to the Army Staff where he fulfilled the post of the Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff from 2008 to 2010. At the end of 2010 he was appointed as Executive Officer and Military Assistant to the Chief of the German Army.

After being in Germany for a while, Haeussler was posted to Belgium again, this time to the post of the Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. In 2013, he was appointed as Chief of Staff of the 1st Armoured Division in Hannover and during that time deployed to his third mission, as Chief of Staff TAAC-N, Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. After being Chief of Staff for two years, he was posted to Berlin where he served in the Federal Ministry of Defence as Section Chief Management and Development until December 2016. While in Berlin and the Federal Ministry of Defence, he took over as Chief of Staff to State Secretary Gerd Hoofe until May 2019.

This was followed, in June 2019, by his appointment as Commander of the German Military Police Command and Provost Marshal of the Bundeswehr in Hannover and his promotion to Brigadier General. On promotion to Major General, he moved to Brussels again in Nov 2022 and is now Director Operations and Planning Division, International Military Staff at NATO HQ.

Major General Ulf Haeussler is married with two sons. He enjoys most activities in the mountains as well as in the water.

Peter Hörndlein, Head of Vehicle Logistics, Volkswagen

Peter Hörndlein is an experienced logistics and supply chain executive with nearly three decades of international leadership experience in the automotive industry. Since April 2024, he has served as Managing Director of Vehicle Logistics at Volkswagen Konzernlogistik GmbH & Co. OHG, overseeing finished vehicle logistics operations.

Previously, he held senior leadership roles at MAN Truck & Bus SE, where he was Senior Vice President for Purchasing Bus (2022–2024) and Brand Logistics (2017–2021). Earlier, Peter built a distinguished career at BMW AG, managing logistics planning, vehicle distribution, plant dispatch, prototype development logistics, and international plant logistics across Germany, the UK, the USA, and South Africa.

He holds a degree in Business Administration and Logistics from HTWG Konstanz. Beyond his professional achievements, he is passionate about snowboarding, skiing, surfing, and photography.

Christof Klitz, Special Advisor on Transport, Green, and Digital Transition, FIPRA

Christof Klitz joined FIPRA in October 2024 as a Special Advisor on Transport Policy, Green and Digital Transition, following sixteen years as the Head of Volkswagen Group’s EU Representation in Brussels. He started his career at Volkswagen in 1999 and held various positions in the company’s offices in Berlin and Brussels. Before his tenure at Volkswagen, he held leadership positions at Deutsche Telekom as Head of Staff for Government Relations & Regulatory Affairs, at the Federation of German Industry (BDI), and as Deputy Director of the Office of German Industry and Trade in Washington, D.C. He also served as Burson-Marsteller’s Head of Government Relations in Bonn and Berlin.

Christof Klitz holds a law degree from the University of Hamburg and worked as a Research Assistant in Commercial and Trade Law. He speaks English and German.

Fridtjof Langenhan, Professor for Logistics Management, University of Applied Sciences Hof

Fridtjof Langenhan is a professor for Logistics Management at Hof University of Applied Sciences (Germany). His focus of teaching and research lies on logistics services, transportation, outsourcing, green logistics and sustainable supply chain management. He has been the Dean of ECG Academy since 2019. Fridtjof has more than 20 years’ experience in training, education and consulting.

Prior to joining Hof University as a professor Fridtjof was Consultant, Partner and Managing Director of a Strategy and SCM Consulting Company (SMG Supply Management Group St. Gallen and Brain Net Group).

François Prince, General Manager Vehicles Logistics Engineering & Services, Renault

With 20 years’ experience in Automotive sector in management roles on both parts and vehicles logistics , François has focused as head of vehicles logistics engineering & services for Renault Group since June 2024. His background is a strong experience on Parts Logistics with more than 15 years working on new models scheme preparation, operations and logistics engineering including network design, system development and tendering.

In addition to his experience in Renault, he worked actively in the Alliance organization with Nissan in Europe and worked directly 4 years within Nissan’s Headquarter (Japan) to define and organize Nissan inbound logistics strategy in several areas such as Asia; North America, Latin America and Europe.

Steve Young, Managing Director of ICDP limited

Steve is currently the Managing Director of the ICDP Limited, a research and consulting business which over 25 years has conducted cross-sector research into operating practices in all parts of automotive distribution, with funding and participation from vehicle manufacturers, distributors, dealers and aftermarket suppliers.

Prior to that he was Chief Executive of LDV Ltd, a commercial vehicle manufacturer during which time he established distribution in four European markets and Malaysia and negotiated a joint venture agreement with a Chinese partner. In parallel he was also Chief Operating Officer of our parent company, GAZ International, a subsidiary of the Russian GAZ company, tasked with looking at international acquisitions, including one prospect in the Indian market.

Steve was an independent consultant and Non-Executive Director of Ashok-Leyland from 2005 to 2007, active in a number of potential acquisitions in the automotive sector by corporate and private equity backed vehicles. Prior to that he served 19 years with A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, where he was a Vice-President for 13 years, and a senior member of their Global Automotive Practice, and worked for Ford Motor Company and British Leyland for a total of 6 years following graduation as an engineer.

Levent Yuksel, Freight Operations Director, Jaguar Land Rover

Levent Yuksel is responsible for JLR’s inbound logistics and finished vehicle distribution operations across its global network. His scope involves parts collection and delivery for manufacturing, logistics network optimization, packaging planning, finished vehicle delivery to global markets and dealers in certain regions. As the operational part of JLR’s Supply Chain Organization, his role is key to ensure that parts are on time for production and the vehicles are delivered to the network as per customers expectation through seamless integration across the end-to-end supply chain in close partnership with logistics providers. Sustainability forms a basis for planning process starting from packaging planning through the freight process until last mile to the customer.

Yuksel has been with JLR since 2013 in central logistics functions. Prior to JLR, he worked at Toyota in a number of locations including Japan in production and logistics functions before leading inbound and Outbound logistics for Toyota Motor Europe. He has a strong track record in continuous improvement, network efficiency and operations management.

Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Škoda Auto

Klaus Zellmer was born in Mallersdorf, Germany, in 1967.

After graduating with a degree in Business Administration, he spent three years working at the Institute for Automotive Economics at the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences from 1994.

In 1997, he became assistant to the Board Member for Sales & Marketing at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. He was then appointed Head of Sales Network Development at Porsche France in January 1999. From July 1999, Zellmer held the position of Area Manager for North America, before assuming responsibility for establishing the Sales and Marketing departments at the new Porsche plant in Leipzig between 2000 and 2002. He then headed up the Customer Centre at the Leipzig Porsche plant and worked as Head of Marketing at Porsche Deutschland GmbH from 2007.

In 2010, he took over as Chairman of the Board of Management.

In 2015, Zellmer was appointed President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. Under his leadership, the company significantly increased its deliveries in this strategically important market and sustainably strengthened its position.

Most recently, Klaus Zellmer was the Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars from September 2020. In this role, he aligned the brand even more consistently with customer needs and advanced the topics of digitalisation and sustainability within the division.

Klaus Zellmer has been Chairman of the Board of Management of Škoda Auto a.s. since 1 July 2022.

Chris Zuo, Executive Vice President, China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing Automotive Logistics Branch

Chris Zuo graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University with a Master of Engineering degree. From 2000 to 2006, he worked at the Commercial Development Center of the State Administration of Domestic Trade.

Since 2006, he has served in the Automotive Logistics Branch of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, holding positions such as Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, Secretary-General, and Executive Vice President. He also serves as Director of the Exhibition Department of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, Executive Vice President of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing’s Apparel Logistics Branch, Director of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing’s Logistics Equipment Professional Committee, and Director of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing’s Pallet Professional Committee. Mr. Zuo has a deep understanding of the automotive and apparel logistics, as well as the logistics equipment industries.

He offers unique insights into logistics industry policies and standards, as well as future development trends. He is committed to promoting the healthy development of related logistics industries.