Volkswagen strategy chief Michael Jost moves his focus to smart boats

Volkswagen strategy chief Michael Jost will quit after working for more than a decade with the automaker, he said on his website, adding he would now focus on building smart boats with his family.

“Since 1996 I am leading a weekend-marriage and -family. Now coronavirus has brought me home and we’ve realized that we can live together. I want to stay here. I thank you all and I do apologize if it was ‘too much’ sometimes,” Jost said.

Jost had joined the Volkswagen unit, Skoda, in 2010, where he worked as head of product management and product strategy until joining Volkswagen as brand chief strategy officer in 2015.

He became Volkswagen’s head of group strategy product in 2018, contributing to the automaker’s goal to become a worldwide leader in electric vehicles.

“What’s next? After smartcars it’s now smartboats, a nautical passion that I want to devote myself to with my family,” he said.

The news comes less than a week before the automaker’s Battery Day and the automaker’ss annual media conference, events set for March 15 and 16, respectively.

Jost could be succeeded by Gernot Doellner, vice president of product line Panamera at the automaker’s luxury division Porsche, a person knowledgeable with the matter said, confirming a report by German magazine Manager Magazin.