Press release |
- Gilles Mabire will assume responsibility for global automotive research and development as CTO latest by January 1, 2022
- Mabire has a degree in electronics and mechatronics and over 25 years of cross-business international management experience in the automotive industry
- Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer: “Gilles Mabire is ideally suited to this role, bringing with him a broad and exceptional customer understanding in addition to his technological expertise, particularly in the areas of electronic vehicle architecture and software.”
- Mabire will take over the CTO role from Dr. Dirk Abendroth, who is leaving the company at his own request at the end of June 2021
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, June 23, 2021. Continental has appointed Gilles Mabire (49) as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Automotive Technologies group sector. Currently responsible for the Commercial Vehicles and Services business unit at Continental, he will assume the new role latest by January 1, 2022, succeeding Dr. Dirk Abendroth, who is leaving the company at his own request at the end of June 2021. Until Mabire takes up his post, Michael Hülsewies (48), head of Architecture and Software, will temporarily take over the management of the CTO organization. By the time Gilles Mabire assumes his new role, he will have completed key projects within the scope of the transformation process which he initiated in the Commercial Vehicles and Services business unit as well as Smart Mobility.
“We are looking forward to working with Gilles Mabire on the Automotive Board and to the joint and consistent implementation of our overall automotive strategy, with six clearly defined strategic action fields. With the ongoing technological transformation, the CTO organization under Gilles Mabire will play a central role in integrating and further developing these strategic action fields and to generate value-creating, scalable solutions for our customers. Ultimately, the automotive industry requires excellence in technology development to ensure even safer, cleaner, connected and comfortable mobility from us,” said Setzer.
“In addition to his technological expertise, particularly in the areas of electronic vehicle architecture and software, Gilles Mabire brings with him a broad and exceptional understanding of customers. It is this special interface between customers and technology, combined with his experience of business unit management that will make him so valuable to Continental in his new role. I am also very grateful that Michael Hülsewies will provide support during the transition period with his drive, expertise and enthusiasm. In him, we have an expert at Continental who is playing a major role in shaping and advancing the transformation of software and data-driven vehicle architectures as well as cross-domain platform strategies,” added Setzer.
In his new position, Mabire will act as a central point of contact for customers and business partners for technology and innovation issues relating to the automotive business and at the same time will be a member of the Automotive Technologies Board. In this function, he will report to Nikolai Setzer as Chairman of the Automotive Technologies Board.
Other tasks of the CTO organization, comprising a total of 17,000 engineers worldwide, include the further development of processes, methods and tools in research and development with a focus on embedded software, and the development of high-performance computers as an essential component of future vehicle architectures.
Gilles Mabire has 25 years of experience in the automotive industry in various functions. In addition to his work as a key account and project manager, the electronics and mechatronics graduate led the infotainment and connectivity business for European vehicle manufacturers in 2013 before assuming responsibility for the entire Continental automotive business in France in 2017. Since 2019, Mabire has been responsible for the global business of Continental’s Commercial Vehicles and Services business unit. His tasks here include the development of the strategic action field of Smart Mobility and the expansion of the service business within Automotive Technologies. As well as his many years of experience in global business with passenger car manufacturers, he provides additional impulses for the strategically important commercial vehicle customers and fleet business.
