Inchcape, distributor of all Subaru and PeugeotCitroen vehicles in Australia, has announced a shake-up of its management team.

    Current managing director of Subaru Australia, Colin Christie, has been promoted to managing director of Inchcape Australasia.

    The 24-year Inchcape veteran now oversees Subaru in Australia and New Zealand, Peugeot-Citroen Australia (PCA), Inchcape’s luxury car dealerships, and AutoNexus vehicle logistics. He’s also chairman of Subaru Australia.

    Reporting to him is newly appointed Subaru Australia managing director Christian Dinsdale, who was previously Inchcape Australasia’s finance director, and who has served the company for 10 years.

    Kate Gillis, who was general marketing manager for PCA, has been promoted to overall general manager, and now sits on the Inchcape Australia executive team.

    Before joining Inchcape, Gillis was marketing director for Royal Doulton and Waterford Crystal in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

    General manager of marketing for Subaru Australia, Amanda Leaney, has taken on a broadened role with responsibility for customer journey, consumer planning, and insights.

    Ben Farlow, marketing director and acting managing director of PCA, is departing the business.

    It’s a tough time in the car business. The overall Australian new car market is down 24 per cent this year, but Subaru is down 28 per cent, and Citroen has contracted 55 per cent, selling just 76 vehicles between January and May. Ferrari sold 100 over the same period…

    However Peugeot has actually stayed steady, selling 670 cars this year so far compared to 665 over the same period in 2019.

    The main driver of this growth has been the 3008 SUV (280), with help from the bigger 5008, the new 508 sedan and wagon, and the Expert and Partner vans.

    Mike Costello
    Mike Costello is a Senior Contributor at CarExpert.
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