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.
Career (selected positions)
- Various senior sales and marketing positions at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Porsche Deutschland GmbH and several foreign subsidiaries of the company, including Porsche France and Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (1997 - 2015)
- Establishment of the Sales and Marketing division at the newly founded Porsche Leipzig plant (2000 - 2002)
- CEO of Porsche Deutschland GmbH (2010 - 2015)
- President & CEO of Porsche Cars North America Atlanta (2015 - 2020)
- Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand (2020 - 2022)
- CEO of Škoda Auto a.s. in Mladá Boleslav (since July 2022)