Bostandzhiev (left) and Leitner.
KUALA LUMPUR: Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS) Malaysia has appointed Denyu Bostandzhiev as the co-managing director of PHS Automotive Malaysia (PHSAM) and Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM).
Effective July 1, Bostandzhiev will lead sales, aftersales and network development, marketing, and IT for both companies, to raise the profile and strengthen the Audi and Volkswagen business in Malaysia.
The Bulgarian will jointly serve in the position together with Kurt Leitner who will continue to helm the human resources and finance operations.
As the new managing director, Bostandzhiev brings with him almost 20 years of experience in the automotive and engineering industry.
Since 2004, Bostandzhiev has reprised many roles on three continents, most recently as managing director of Porsche Ukraine LLC in which he was tasked to restructure all brand departments and introduced a business process management programme to create a cutting-edge long-term brand strategy.
Bostandzhiev is no stranger to Malaysia as he was assigned in 2016 for two and a half years and was instrumental in securing the operations for locally assembled Volkswagen Arteon, Tiguan Allspace and Golf GTI – a historical milestone for the local market as the GTI was only previously assembled in Germany and China.
“I am enthusiastic about returning to Malaysia to offer a premium experience for customers in which Audi and Volkswagen pride themselves in,” said Bostandzhiev.
Bostandzhiev succeeds Erik Winter, who was instrumental in reintroducing the Audi brand in Malaysia in July last year.
For the Volkswagen brand, Winter succeeded in driving greater customer confidence through aftersales, strengthening the dealer network and expansion of its product range in the past seven years.
Winter will be moving on as managing director of Porsche Holdings Salzburg in Chile.
PHS manages PHSAM and VPCM, the official distributor of Audi and Volkswagen cars in Malaysia.
A wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, PHS is the largest and most successful automotive retailer in Europe, with a strong presence in 29 countries within South America, Eastern Europe and across Asia.
