Hella North America Names Benz to New Position

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga., July 12 -- Wolfgang Benz has been named president and chief executive officer - NAFTA Aftermarket for Hella North America.

Benz, who will direct Hella's North American aftermarket business, joined Hella KG in 1995 as managing director of Hella Aftermarket Operations for the U.K. and Ireland.

Prior to joining Hella, Benz was managing director of Parts Inc., a subsidiary of Midas Ltd., in Johannesburg, South Africa. He worked for 20 years in a number of marketing roles for Midas and its predecessor Motolek SA (Pty) Ltd.

Benz joined Diesel-Electric (Pty) Ltd. Bosch Agency in Johannesburg in 1972, where he was employed as divisional manager and was responsible for the company's entire automotive business in southern Africa.

His career in automotive began in 1967 at Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart- Schillerhoehe, Germany, where he served as a sales manager and later export product manager.

Benz has a degree in commerce from the Industrie und Handelskammer in Stuttgart, Germany, and earned a commercial foreign correspondent certificate from the PFD Interpreter College in Stuttgart, Germany, where he studied English law and commerce.

Lighting, electronics, complete vehicle modules, air conditioning systems, vehicle wiring systems and signal processing for the automobile industry, as well as automotive aftermarket components, are the core fields of competency for automotive supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. Sales for the Hella Group are approximately $3.8 billion, placing Hella among Germany's top 100 industrial companies.

With its corporate headquarters in Lippstadt, Germany, the company employs more than 22,800 people at 61 manufacturing facilities, production subsidiaries and joint-venture companies in 18 countries. More than 1,800 engineers and technicians work in research and development. All of the world's leading automobile and systems manufacturers are Hella customers as well as the automotive components aftermarket.