Markus Kussmaul, executive director Adient Specialty Seating and responsible for Recaro Performance Car Seating, has decided to leave Recaro to pursue other career opportunities. Effective September 1, 2017, Martin C. Klein will lead Recaro Automotive Seating’s branding and marketing activities as well as its passenger vehicle business.

KIRCHHEIM, Germany and TECK, Germany, Aug. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Adient has announced that Martin C. Klein will assume new responsibilities at Recaro Automotive Seating and Recaro Performance Car Seating as vice president. Markus Kussmaul will continue to serve the company until the end of September to ensure a smooth transition of leadership. Mr. Klein will take over responsibilities at Recaro Automotive Seating on September 1, 2017, and will be based in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany.

“One year after successfully spinning off Adient as an independent automotive supplier from Johnson Controls, we will now engage in the next phase of developing Recaro Automotive Seating as the world’s leading brand of performance car seats with outstanding potentials in the passenger and commercial vehicle businesses,” says Ingo Fleischer, vice president Adient Specialty Seating. “In particular I want to thank Markus Kussmaul for his commitment and for his dedicated work on behalf of the company.”

Markus Kussmaul worked for the companies Keiper and Recaro for 17 years. After joining the Keiper sales team in 2000, he served in different leadership positions until 2011. When Keiper and Recaro Automotive Seating became part of Johnson Controls in 2011, he led the U.S. business operations of Recaro Automotive Seating until 2014. From 2014 he held leadership positions at Recaro Commercial Vehicle Seating, global sales at Recaro Automotive Seating and later as head of Recaro Performance Car Seating.

Martin C. Klein holds a university degree in Economics and has over 25 years of professional experience in the automotive business, both in the passenger car and commercial vehicle sectors. He has held various leadership positions at Daimler in Germany and the United States with particular expertise in marketing, branding and sales.

About Recaro Automotive Seating:
Recaro Automotive Seating is a product group of Adient. At seven locations in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Japan, Mexico, and the USA, we design, manufacture, and market complete seats representative of our core competencies of design, ergonomics, craftsmanship, robustness, lightweight construction, and first-class workmanship, under the brand name Recaro. Recaro Automotive Seating consists of two units: While Recaro Performance Car Seating offers passenger car seats for OEMs and the aftermarket, Recaro Commercial Vehicle Seating focuses on commercial vehicle seats in the OEM and aftermarket segments. Recaro Automotive Seating uses the brand Recaro under a license of the Recaro Holding.

About Adient:
Adient is a global leader in automotive seating. With 75,000 employees operating 230 manufacturing/assembly plants in 33 countries worldwide, Adient produces and delivers automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, the company’s expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Adient’s integrated, in-house skills allow it to take products from research and design all the way to engineering and manufacturing – and into more than 25 million vehicles every year. To learn more, please visit adient.com.

SOURCE Recaro Automotive Seating