Vivian Zhang will succeed Catherine Peng as vice president for public relations and communications, Volkswagen Group’s China unit said.
The appointment is effective Nov. 20, VW said.
Zhang joined General Motors' China unit in 2002 as a senior public relations manager.
She is currently vice president at Adidas in charge of the German sports shoe maker’s public relations and corporate social responsibility in the greater China region.
Peng will retire after 11 years as the China public relations chief at VW Group China.
China has become a tough market for European automakers such as VW as competition from domestic rivals increases and a price war rages.
After several months of declines, the group's China deliveries increased 5 percent to 276,800 in October, helped by a rebound in sales of battery-electric cars. The group almost doubled its BEV sales in China to 23,393, VW said. The automaker's best-selling BEV was the VW ID3.
Global deliveries for the month were up 11 percent to 765,500. Sales in North America jumped by more than a quarter, while in Western Europe deliveries rose 11 percent.
Reuters contributed to this report