He replaces Paul Willcox who leaves the company with immediate effect. Willis joined Volkswagen in 2000 with a wealth of automotive industry experience, having worked for BMW, Mazda, Toyota and Ford. He headed up the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand between February 2000 and 2008. Since then he has worked as managing director for Volkswagen Group Ireland, while his most recent role, which he has held since June 2011, was as chief operating officer, sales and marketing, for Skoda China. Commenting on his new appointment, Willis said: 'I'm delighted to be returning to the Volkswagen Group in the UK. The group is going from strength to strength and now holds close to a 20% share of the UK car market.'