Senior management changes at Stellantis UK have led to its group managing director Maria Grazia Davino taking direct responsibility for the event of its retail network.
It comes lower than six months after Davino took over the lead at Stellantis UK from Paul Wilcox, was tasked with improving group performance and restoring the religion of its Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Jeep dealers as retailer morale had hit all-time low. She told AM in December how she rapidly paused plans to modify to agency contracts until significant issues were ironed out and each Stellantis plus its retailers can be confident of success.
Lee Titchner, who has spent seven years as network development director, has now been appointed LCV director at Pro One, Stellantis’s umbrella organisation overseeing all its UK brands’ light industrial vehicle business. He’ll report back to Davino.
Tony Lewis moves from his current post as UK LCV director to a brand new role of economic vehicle business development director, responsible globally for all major key accounts for delivery vans. Lewis will report back to Anne Abhoud, head of economic vehicles for Stellantis’s ‘enlarged Europe’ division.
Tom Ray, who has been with the group since 2004 in various roles, becomes B2B operations director, reporting to Eurig Druce, VP sales at Stellantis UK. Ray is a former general manager and regional operations director with Stellantis & You, the retail group once generally known as Robins & Day, and a former head of regional operations for Peugeot.
And as AM-online recently reported, Steve Beattie has returned to Vauxhall as its sales and operations director after six years at Volvo and Nio. He will even report back to Druce.
Maria Grazia Davino said: “I would really like to welcome Lee, Steve and Tom to their latest roles and need all of them every success in delivering on our Dare Forward 2030 commitments.
“Lee’s broad and varied knowledge coupled along with his strong relationships with the network will enable him to guide the Pro One strategy at Stellantis, with our ongoing focus to maximise our market share for LCV in UK and maintaining industry leadership in electric vans.”
“This approach, with the newly-created delivery van sales role, will strengthen our collective offering and coverage, supporting our strategic goals within the LCV market. I’m delighted that one in every of our team will take the lead on such a strategic position and I would really like to thank Tony for his great contribution to the UK team.”
“I welcome Steve back to the group. Steve’s wide experience across sales and aftersales, integral knowledge of the Vauxhall brand and positive network engagement skills will make him a beneficial asset in driving our Vauxhall sales results forwards. Finally, I congratulate Tom on his latest role and know that his extensive sales and leadership experience will enable him to drive forward our plans for the fleet market.”
Davino has appointed the ICDP to moderate between the national sales company and its franchisees because it seeks to work out, together, the right way to make direct-to-consumer latest vehicle sales work within the UK.
Within the last NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey each Stellantis franchise – Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, DS, Peugeot, Jeep – was rated as poor value and was fighting one another for the underside of the rating.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
