Swede Bo I Andersson has left General Motors to become chairman of Russian automotive manufacturer GAZ.

Last week General Motors announced that its global purchasing chief, Bo I. Andersson, had decided to resign after more than 20 years at the firm.

With an annual budget of 600 billion kronor (€57 billion), he was considered one of the most influential and powerful individual in the global auto industry.

54-years-old Bo I Andersson is now set to become the new chairman of Russian Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, GAZ, Russian officials has confirmed.

"The ex-vice president of GM, Bo Andersson, has expressed his agreement to take the post of the chairman of the board of directors of GAZ," the company said in a statement.

His nomination would be considered at the board meeting following the next scheduled one, on June 27.

"There were preliminary discussions with him about the possibility of his election as the head of the board of directors, and the shareholders hope that his candidature will be elected", GAZ writes.

Last week Andersson said in an e-mail to the TT news wire that “I have a new better job working as CEO”.

GAZ started in 1929 as NNAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. Today it’s a part of Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska’s empire.

GAZ Group is Russia's largest automotive manufacture of light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, cars, diesel engines, power-train components and road construction equipment.