Volkswagen UK hires Nissan's Geraldine Ingham as head of marketing

Her experience within the more innovate parts of Nissan's business are apparently key to the hire and signal where VW is looking to take its brand.

Alison Jones, director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said Ingham has a results-driven and positive approach, "and demonstrates an energy and drive in delivering a new future and transformational projects.”

“Geraldine brings a strength of skill set, not only in the core skills of marketing and product development and positioning, but also as a member of the senior management team, due to her breadth of knowledge," she added.

VW estimated a decline in sales as a result of the reputational damage, however, the worries were unfounded as 2016 delivered 10.3m global car sales, a record for the company.

Nonetheless, (YouGov respondents currently rank Volkswagen at 3,275th of 3955 tracked brands). By comparison, rival Toyota sits as the 801st tracked brand.

AS such, the German car marque has been putting greater focus on a ‘future of mobility’ strategy following the 2015 expose into the efforts it went to cheat emissions tests. This saw it launch a 50-people strong division targeting those who would prefer to pay for mobility services (like a ride-haling app) instead of owning a car.

It's still very much in trial mode, but if successful then the standalone outfit believes it will be a “top three mobility provider” over the next 10 years and consequently become a “substantial portion of the [wider Volkswagen] group’s profit”.

Other attempts to get the brand back on track include the global roll out of a nostalgic campaign focusing on a love of driving.

Ingham replaces Rod McLeod, who has moved to the position of head of sales at the company.