Skoda Auto is reshuffling its top management: Martina Biene, currently head of Volkswagen Group Africa, takes over responsibility for Sales and Marketing on the Czech carmaker’s Board of Management from 1 October 2026. She replaces Martin Jahn, who moves to Wolfsburg to lead Sales, Marketing and After Sales for the Volkswagen brand. Jahn is also expected to take a seat on Skoda Auto’s Supervisory Board, pending the required approvals.
Skoda Auto has confirmed a change at the top of its commercial organisation. Announced from the company’s Mlada Boleslav headquarters on 2 September 2026, the move sees Martina Biene appointed Board Member for Sales and Marketing, with the change taking effect on 1 October 2026.
From South Africa to Mlada Boleslav
Biene arrives from Volkswagen Group Africa, where she is currently Chair and Managing Director. In her new role she takes over the commercial side of a brand that sits at the volume heart of the Volkswagen Group, covering everything from model launches to dealer-facing sales strategy across Skoda’s markets.
Martin Jahn moves up to the Volkswagen brand
The man she succeeds, Martin Jahn, is being appointed Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand, where he will be responsible for Sales, Marketing and After Sales in Wolfsburg. Jahn has held the sales and marketing brief at the Czech manufacturer since March 2021.
Subject to the necessary approvals, Jahn is also set to join Skoda Auto’s Supervisory Board, which would keep his experience of the brand available to the company even after the day-to-day role passes to Biene.
What it means
Personnel news rarely moves the metal, but the sales and marketing seat matters at Skoda: it is the role that shapes pricing, positioning and how the brand’s expanding electric line-up is presented against rivals inside and outside the Volkswagen Group. Handing it to an executive with regional leadership experience from outside Europe, while promoting the outgoing incumbent into the Volkswagen brand’s equivalent job, points to continuity in approach rather than a change of direction. Skoda has not indicated any shift in strategy alongside the announcement.
Skoda has not named a successor for Biene at Volkswagen Group Africa in this announcement. The appointments take effect on 1 October 2026.
Source: www.skoda-storyboard.com