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A senior Volkswagen executive has been deported from China, in another setback for the German group fighting for survival in the world’s biggest car market.
VW’s chief marketing officer and head of product strategy for China, Jochen Sengpiehl, is back in Germany after being detained in China for about 10 days, according to two people with knowledge of the details.
He allegedly tested positive for drugs following a holiday abroad, they said. VW is reviewing the matter internally, one of them said.
Germany’s Federal Foreign Office on Tuesday confirmed that its embassy in Beijing had “provided consular assistance and was in regular contact with the concerned individual and his family as well as with the local authorities”.
The incident is another blow to VW in its most profitable market. Europe’s largest automaker has in recent years been losing grip of its decades-old market dominance in China and has announced investments of more than €5bn there to catch up to Chinese competitors, such as BYD.
VW, which is trying to push through historic job cuts at home, is also locked in sensitive negotiations with its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC over the future of a controversial plant in Xinjiang, the western province where Beijing has been accused of human rights abuses.
The VW executive, who spent just over two years in China, had tested positive for cannabis and cocaine — both illegal in the country — following his return from a holiday in Thailand about two weeks ago, one of the people added.
German newspaper Bild first reported the deportation. It was not yet clear why the executive was tested. Thailand decriminalised cannabis use in 2022, while Germany legalised it earlier this year. Cocaine remains illegal in both countries.
VW said it could not comment due to “contractual and data protection confidentiality obligations”.
Sengpiehl was emailed for comment but had not responded by time of publication. According to his LinkedIn profile, he had been in his China role since 2022. Prior to that, he was VW’s global marketing officer for some five years, following earlier roles at Hyundai, WPP, Daimler, BBDO and Nissan.
Following a series of raids on western consultancies and the introduction of tougher rules on espionage and state secrets, foreign investors and business people have become increasingly uneasy over their personal safety in China.
China has a criminal conviction rate of around 99 per cent and the country’s courts have been required to hand down tough sentences for drug convictions in recent years.