AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE TALK FROM THE TOP Running to glory Opel boss on how he will make brand sustainably profitable M ichael Lohscheller has accomplished in 14 months what no predecessor achieved in decades. He returned Opel to the black. The passionate marathon runner, who recently instituted a new monthly program called "Run With The Boss," didn't just turn around the perennial money-loser but brought it to record results that rival those of Europe's top-performing volume automakers. Lohscheller spoke with Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner. PSA CEO Tavares has said profitability brings freedom. Opel appears to be on track to reach its profit margin target of 6 percent in 2019, seven years ahead of schedule. What will you buy with your freedom? In the past, Opel had many different restructuring programs with many different names led by many different management teams and yet the goal of profitability was never reached. We agreed on concrete targets with the PACE plan including a long-term target of a 6 percent operating margin by 2026. The fact that we are on track to deliver our commitment on profitability -- and we are pursuing our effort to do even better -- is extremely important for our credibility externally but even more importantly internally. That's why I'm representing Opel on PSA Group's four-person managing board. How big a deal is that to you and your team especially considering that the head of the group's flagship brand, Peugeot, is not on the managing board? PSA has a great set of strong brands, however, this is indeed the first time that Opel has a voice on the company's top decisionmaking body. The move has been very wellreceived by our workforce. You wouldn't believe how many employees have approached me to say how happy they are that Opel finally has a seat at this table. What have you been able to accomplish with that board seat that you could not before? On an operational level everyone on the 19-member Global Executive Committee can campaign for their ideas, so it's more of a symbolic value by emphasizing 28 www.autonewseurope.com Meet the boss ❚ NAME: Michael Lohscheller ❚ TITLE: Opel CEO ❚ AGE: 51 ❚ MAIN CHALLENGE: Maintaining profitability while lowering CO2 emissions. In Partnership with 2019http://www.autonewseurope.com