FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors  unit Opel appointed a 55-year-old executive from Volkswagen  to be its new chief of sales and marketing, the company said on Wednesday.

Alfred Rieck, who was in charge of building up the China business for VW's low-cost Czech brand Skoda, will start his new job effective July 1.

"He has shown that he can manage a brand and increase its sales and market share. He will play a key role in the new positioning of Opel," Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke said in a statement.

Predecessor Alain Visser switched internally to the global marketing department of GM's Chevrolet brand.

The company's supervisory board began a meeting earlier on Wednesday under the cloud of potential plant closures.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner)

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