Roger Knight, previously chief executive of Marshall Motor Holdings, will take strategic lead of retail sales development at Liberty Electric Cars.

Knight joined Marshall in 1989 and was managing director and then chief executive between 1995 and 2007.

Knight was a member of the Retail Motor Strategy Group and a member of the National Franchised Dealer Association Strategy Committee.

He said: “These are exciting and challenging times for the motor trade. As consumers increasingly move to non polluting cars, they also drive change in conventional car retailing.

“New technologies and changing consumer patterns mean new thinking is needed at the point of sale. Liberty Electric Cars is leading this change, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with them”.