The new head of business at Swansway Garages' Carlisle Audi franchise is "up for the challenge" following his promotion from the post of general sales manager.

Tim White joined Carlisle Audi as sales manager, before promotion to general sales manager; in his new role he is in charge of the dealership, but he said that he was “up for the challenge”.

He said: “This is what I’ve been working towards and I’m looking forward to taking Carlisle Audi to the next level.

“The next step in the motor trade is very exciting; electric cars and hybrids are the future and I’m looking forward to the challenges this will bring”

White started working in the motor trade straight from university, initially taking on the role of trainee sales executive at a Mitsubishi franchise and said “I’ve never looked back”.

But he almost never got started, after a rocky start to his career on his first ever customer test drive. White revealed: “It was in a Mitsubishi Carisma, the first in the range with a digital readout of the range in miles left in the tank. So, when the customer pointed out that the fuel light was on I confidently pointed to the range meter saying there were 30 miles left in the tank.

“Half a mile later you can guess what happened, the car ran out of fuel and we had to be recovered.

“It did dent my trust in technology, but things have come a long way since then and the good news is the customer still bought the car.”