Franck Mulard to lead Opel's Eisenach plant from November 1 as Rafal Trojca moves to Stellantis Europe manufacturing role
Opel has named 36-year company veteran Franck Mulard, 60, as managing director of its Eisenach plant from November 1, with Rafal Trojca moving to a senior Stellantis Europe manufacturing post.
- 60
- 36
- €130 million
- February 1991
What Happened
Franck Mulard, 60, will take over the management of Opel Eisenach GmbH on November 1, succeeding Rafal Trojca at the helm of the Eisenach plant. Trojca will move to a senior position in manufacturing at Stellantis Europe, where he will be responsible for the Stamping and Injection Unit. The change was announced on 27 October 2026.
Starts his career in the automotive industry at the Polish engine plant in Tychy.
Spends two years in quality management at Opel's main plant in Rüsselsheim.
Serves as unit manager at the Tychy site, then is promoted in 2015 to production manager of the Aspern engine and transmission plant.
Takes over the management of Opel Wien GmbH.
General Manager of the PCMA Rus plant in Kaluga, a joint venture of Stellantis and Mitsubishi Motors; he then manages the Kaiserslautern components plant for two and a half years before moving to Eisenach.
Mulard has been with the company for 36 years. After studying at the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA), a French university for engineers, he joined what was then Groupe PSA in 1990. His career took him from the paint shop at the Poissy plant to various positions in manufacturing and human resources in France, the UK, Russia and Austria, and on to Rüsselsheim, where he currently manages the grEEn-campus project. He is married and has three daughters.
- Incoming managing director of Opel Eisenach GmbH from November 1; 36 years with the company; currently manages the grEEn-campus project in Rüsselsheim
- Outgoing Eisenach plant chief; moves to a senior manufacturing position at Stellantis Europe responsible for the Stamping and Injection Unit
The Eisenach plant produces the top-of-the-line Opel Grandland in all drive variants. The foundation stone for what was described as one of the most modern automotive plants in Europe at the time was laid in February 1991, which the company says laid the basis for the production of numerous successful Opel models. Investments of €130 million were made for the current generation Opel Grandland.
€130 million
Spent on the current generation of the model built at the Eisenach plant.
Why this matters
Eisenach is where Opel builds the top-of-the-line Grandland in all drive variants, so a change at the top concerns the plant's workforce and the model's production. Mulard brings 36 years of manufacturing and human resources experience across several countries, while Trojca's new job at Stellantis Europe widens his remit from a single site to the Stamping and Injection Unit.
Terms in This Story
- Stamping
- A manufacturing process that presses flat sheet metal into shaped parts, such as body panels.
- Injection Unit
- A production unit that makes plastic components by injecting molten material into moulds.
- Joint venture
- A business entity created and jointly owned by two or more separate companies.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.