Volvo adds ex-GM Europe boss Forster to board

Forster will advise Volvo and its parent Geely.

Carl-Peter Forster, the former head of General Motors Europe and Tata Motors, has joined the board of directors at Volvo Car Corp.

Effective immediately, Forster, 58, will serve as a non-executive board member at Volvo. He does not have any specific duties and will attend between four and six meetings a year, a Volvo spokesman said. Forster succeeds Richard Yin Da Qing, who is retiring age 62 from his post as finance chief at Volvo's Chinese parent company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

"Carl-Peter Forster brings a very high level of experience to the board of Volvo directors. He is one of the most experienced and prominent leaders within the European auto industry," the Volvo spokesman told Automotive News Europe.

Forster stepped down as Tata CEO in September 2011, leaving Jaguar Land Rover's parent company after 18 months because "unavoidable personal circumstances," the automaker said at the time.

In September 2012, Forster became a special adviser to Zhejiang Geely. Last month, he was named a non-executive board member at Volvo's sister brand, Geely Automobile.

Forster stepped down as GM Europe chief in 2009 after criticizing the automaker for reversing a decision to sell its Opel unit to Canadian supplier Magna International Inc. and Russian partner Sberbank.

He began his auto career in 1986 at BMW, rising to head of manufacturing before leaving the company in 2000. He joined GM as head of Opel in 2001.

The German national currently also is board chairman of at ZDMi, a German supplier of semiconductors to the auto industry, and Lead Equities, an Austrian private equity firm. In addition, he serves on the boards of UK engineering group IMI and The Mobility House, a Swiss company providing electromobility services to automakers including Toyota, Renault, Nissan and Daimler.