The African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) on Tuesday announced the name of its new president. She is Volkswagen Group South Africa chairperson and MD Martina Biene, who is also responsible for the Africa region. She replaces outgoing president Mike Whitfield, who has held the post since 2020. He remains on the AAAM executive as Immediate Past President.

“I became passionate about Africa after completing an internship in Cape Town before joining Volkswagen in Germany,” she highlighted. “My career has allowed me to return to Africa to help with the industrialisation of Africa through the automotive industry which will help to create opportunities and sustainable jobs. I am thankful for the work Mike and the AAAM team have done to date and I am humbled to be able to play a key role through AAAM to grow the automotive manufacturing industry from the 1.1-million vehicles a year today to some 3.5-million or even 5-million by 2035.”

Apart from Biene and Whitfield, the AAM executive is also composed of four Vice Presidents (VPs) and a CEO. The VPs are Toyota South Africa Motors president and CEO Andrew Kirby, Robert Bosch Africa Region president Markus Thill, Volkswagen Ghana CEO Jeffery Oppong, and Egyptian German Automotive Company MD and East Port Said Main Development Company MD Dr Ahmed Fikry. The CEO is Dave Coffey.

The AAAM was founded in November 2015. It is the only African entity with a focus on both widening and deepening the automotive industry across the continent. It works with governments to develop investor-friendly policies, as well as seeks to align a global stakeholder network, to free up Africa’s economic potential, via the automotive sector. The recognition of its role and importance has seen AAAM membership grow from 17 in 2020 to 63 today.

Jointly with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat, the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Afreximbank and the African Organisation for Standardisation, the AAAM has developed a Continental Automotive Strategy and Implementation Plan. This was, as a “living document”, adopted in February, in Botswana, at a meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers.