Len Hunt in, Peter Butterfield out at Kia Motors America

Len Hunt in, Peter Butterfield out at Kia Motors America
By Victor Galvan Automotive News / October 07, 2005
PRESS RELEASE: Kia Motors America Announces Organizational Changes -
2005-10-07

Peter Butterfield has left Kia Motors America Inc., the U.S. sales arm
of the Korean automaker said Friday. Butterfield had been president and
CEO since 2002.

Butterfield, 52, is being replaced by J.H. Lee, who was senior
executive vice president of Kia Motors Corp.

Kia Motors America also named Len Hunt, 50, former head of Volkswagen
of America Inc., as COO.

The details behind Butterfield's sudden departure were not
immediately available.

Hunt, who will join Kia at its Irvine, Calif., headquarters on Monday,
Oct. 10, will report to Lee.

News of Hunt's resignation from Volkswagen AG surfaced on Thursday,
Oct. 6. He had been set to become board member for sales and marketing
at Bentley Motors Group, the VW Group's British luxury-car maker in
Crewe, England.

In September, VW named Adrian Hallmark, 43, to replace Hunt as
executive vice president in charge of the VW brand in North America.

Hunt will be responsible for overseeing all Kia Motors America business
operations, including sales and marketing, fixed operations and
corporate planning, Kia said.

In a prepared statement, Lee said: "Kia Motors is entering a new
phase of aggressive growth in the United States, and we have realigned
our management structure to better support this effort. With his
experience and industry track record, we welcome Len to Kia and look
forward to his leadership during this critical period of brand
development in the U.S."

Dave
http://www.vwlivery.com