CEO of Volkswagen China: openness and competition drives innovation and future

Transformation in China’s rapid development

Prof. Heizmann began his career in car manufacturing in 1982. As a veteran in the auto making industry, he has spent much time in China. In the eyes of his Chinese colleagues, he is an amiable man.

Speaking of his relationship with China, he smiled with pride, “I've been here in China with different responsibilities for more than 25 years, which started in 1991 when I had just moved from Audi to Volkswagen. I have been to a lot of countries before, but not one like China is so fascinating to me.” He still remembers how China in 1991 was a country of bicycles and what the bicycle-filled streets in the middle of Beijing looked like. But what was fascinating for him was that he knew these things would change extremely fast.

He even asked his son, who also studied and worked in China for a period of time, to learn Chinese. He still believes that China is “a fantastic country where you can learn a lot, which is still on the move and still developing extremely fast.” In his eyes, the speed of China’s development is faster than any other country.